Fairy Tail of Lies
by FTMinorz
Summary: Everybody in FairyTail has died. Natsu and his friend, Tempus, have been sent back in time by Zeref to change the horrid fate that has consumed the guild. NatsuxLucy, GrayxJuvia, OCxMirajane, GajeelxLevy, ErzaxJellal
1. Chapter 1: Beginning of the End

_Prologue_

**A/N: My First Fanfic. Yes there is an OC. Hope you enjoy!**

**I do not own Fairy Tail.**

Destruction. The only world that can describe what was in front of him. Bodies littered the floors and blood pooled around them. The putrid stench of death filled the air, and the pressure of insanity loomed in the balance. The once beautiful island of Tenroujima was now nothing more than a wasteland, the Great Tenrou Tree burned to a crisp. One being remained alive, flying above the island, admiring his handy work. The Dragon of the Apocalypse, Acnologia.

"W-What Happened?" A lone man stood in the middle of all the carnage asked to nobody in particular, his blonde hair blowing in the light wind, blood flowed from many of his opened wounds and tears escaped his eyes.

"I'm sorry." The man turned around to the owner of the voice. Zeref stood there, motionless as well.

"H-Hey, I'm not done y-yet!" A third man grabbed Zeref's ankle, his body nearly broken. His pale pink hair stained crimson from the blood and his eyes showing his struggle to remain conscious.

"Natsu…" Zeref said with a frown on his face, tears flowing from his eyes. "I cannot allow you to fight anymore; your duty is too kill me, not Acnologia."

"I can't k-kill you, if I-I can't e-even kill your p-pet." Natsu said, as he struggled to speak; both men looking down at his broken body. "I will kill you and your dragon Zeref."

"I-I will kill the d-dragon." Both Zeref and Natsu looked over to the third member of the group. "You can s-save your strength for Z-Zeref, my white lightning may be enough to keep you alive."

"But T-Tempus, not even you have the p-power to take it down." Natsu complained to Tempus.

"Not yet." Both Tempus and Natsu looked at Zeref, once satisfied that he has those two's attention, he continued. "I know a Black Art that can turn back time; I will give the both of you one chance to increase your power, so you can fight Acnologia and me in the return around."

Natsu and Tempus looked at him with disbelief. "We'll do it" They both said with a new determination.

"You will have a couple of rules to follow, listen as I explain them. **Forbidden Black Arts: Terra Exul!**" The land around the 3 men changed. They stood on a small island that was made up of nothing but sand, all around them was water; as far as the eye can see. "I have sent us to the Exiled Land where I may explain these rules without interruption. Now sit, we have much to go through."

The two men both noticed how all of their injuries were all but gone and slowly sat on the shore, trying to take in the surroundings. The land was peaceful, but felt empty.

"I will only say these once, so pay attention." Both men nodded their heads again. "When you travel back in time, I have control over your memories, skills and the time period you will be sent too. I will give you guys everything you have up to this time, and I will put you into the month of January of the year X777."

Tempus and Natsu both thought back to what they were doing during that time and it dawned on both of them that they were with their respective dragons at the time. Both of the men nodded to Zeref letting him know to continue.

"Now, there is nothing restricting the ability to talk about Time Travel, or nothing saying that you can do things differently than what you did in the past; however, the same events will still happen, regardless of you being there or not. So, I recommend being there, moving on. These are both fine; however, I suggest you do not let anyone know about the time travel business, it may make people think you are kind of… 'Out there'. Time Travel magic has been lost for centuries and is considered a Black Art long before the creation of the Arc of Time. I will give memories too myself as well as Mavis Vermillion, once the year of X782 hits, I want you both to come to Tenroujima for training with Mavis. I will gather other wizards during those years to also help Mavis train you. Do I make myself clear?"

Tempus nodded while Natsu was thinking. "What is on your mind, Natsu?" Zeref asked.

"So we will have 5 years to train on our own, while you prepare for us at Tenroujima?" Natsu asked him, and Zeref simply nodded his response. "Yosh! Then I'm all fired up!" Natsu yelled to the skies. 'I will save everyone…' He thought as he looked at Tempus, 'We will save them.'

"Before I cast the spell, I will implant these spells into the two of you. They will allow you to communicate telepathically with one another and will have an internal alarm to signify when you have been summoned to Tenroujima." Zeref said to them and waited for their reactions.

"How does it work?" Tempus asked before Natsu got to ask the same thing, so Natsu just nodded his agreement to the question.

"Simple, just think of the other person, and then relay your thoughts out to him. You will get the hang of it soon." Tempus nodded his head, accepting the answer.

Zeref stood in-between the two men and put a hand on both of their heads as he prepared himself for the spell. "**Lost Black Art: Mind Vinculum!** And now I will send you both back in time." Zeref stated as he looked at the clouds. 'Good Luck you two, I expect great things.'

"**Forbidden Black Art: Recole Tempus!**" The world went black for the two Fairy Tail members as Zeref looked up to the sky again and sighed, "I just gave birth to the two strongest men in the last thousand years… didn't I, Mavis?" Then, he too, saw only black.


	2. Chapter 2: Return to What was Lost

**A/N: Here is the actual start to the story. Hope you enjoy. **

**I do not own Fairy Tail.**

"Ugh... My head." Tempus sat up in the cave. 'Where am I?' he thought, was it all a dream? '_Natsu… Can you hear me?' _At first there was no reaction and Tempus sat there thinking it was all just a dream, and right before he breathed a sigh of relief he heard, '_Tempus?'_. "So it wasn't a dream after all."

"Wasn't a dream my child?" Tempus looked up and saw his mother, The Dragon of the Heavens, Arcadia. "What happened my child?"

"Oh nothing mother!" Tempus said a little too quickly, earning him a disapproving stare from the Dragon.

"If you say so Child, I will rest for the night, prepare yourself for more training tomorrow." With that, Arcadia fell asleep.

'_Natsu, that all happened didn't it?'_ Tempus said as he lied himself on the floor of the cave next to Arcadia. Close enough to hear her steady breathing, remembering how all the dragons disappear in 6 months.

'_Yeah… I refuse to let it happen again.' _He heard Natsu's determination through the tone of his voice ringing in his head.

'_We'll make sure it doesn't.'_ And with that, Tempus went to sleep, as he waited to begin his training for the next 6 months the following day with Arcadia.

"_**Young Children, of the Sovereign Dragons**_

_**Time Will Come, **_

_**One with the Mastery of Pure Magic,**_

_**The Other, with the Mastery of Fire Magic,**_

_**Two Unstoppable Forces, **_

_**Two Deaths, Retold by Time,**_

_**To Fix a Past That was Lost."**_

…

'_Already been six months Tempus!' _Natsu thought to Tempus as he clenched his fist.

'_Yeah, this is the day the dragons disappear._' Natsu heard as the message came back from Tempus. '_Did it happen to you too? I kept receiving weird dreams from Mavis with guides on how to use different types of magic._'

Natsu looked up at the sky, thinking of what Tempus had said. '_Zeref sent me dreams instead, he taught me Black Arts, just not death magic. Which I feel oddly thankful for._' Natsu chuckled as he thought of the multitude of spells Zeref made him learn, and the first time Zeref appeared in a dream.

Tempus laughed, '_I'm thankful for that too, meet me by the inn at Hargeon Town, we need to talk and maybe fight, to test our abilities._' Tempus went into the cave that his mother used to always occupy and found a cloak that he always wore. 'Thank you Arcadia, I will not let you down this time.' He thought, as he put it on and walked out of the cave, with his staff in hand.

Natsu was already moving towards Hargeon Town with his scarf wrapped tightly around his neck. He felt anxious to fight Tempus again, it's been years since he saw Tempus and he knew the both wanted to know how much they have grown.

"Oh? A child?" Natsu heard some snickers behind him and he turned around to see some robbers standing behind him, holding their weapons.

"Boss, the only thing of value looks to be that scarf." Natsu flinched as he realized these people wanted to steal his scarf. They were about three times bigger than him but Natsu just snickered.

"You guys want a fight?" The three men were caught off guard by the sudden comment but quickly brushed it off and rushed the boy.

"Don't be so cocky, brat!" The leader yelled as he rushed forward, he swung his club to Natsu's side and Natsu jumped and kicked horizontally to the opponents head and landed on his forearm. The second man swung his sword down on Natsu while Natsu, spun his body off his forearm and pushed himself into a kick using his feet first into the third one's chin; affectively knocking him out.

"**Roar of the Fire Dragon!**" Natsu yelled as he was upside down and looking at the attacker, he breathed hot flames at his second attacker sending him into a tree; breaking the trunk of the tree in half and knocking the tree over.

"W-What are you?" The leader yelled before running off into the forest.

'_I heard that explosion from here Natsu._' Natsu jumped, not expecting the sudden thought to pierce his mind. '_Well, I see your idiotic destruction still follows you around._'

'_Shut up Tempus, it's not like you have a leg to stand on!' _Natsu shot back and he heard Tempus chuckle.

'_I guess you are right Natsu, I'm waiting by the inn._' Natsu looked toward the town and started to run down to it.

'_I'm on my way Tempus._'

…

Tempus stood in front of the inn, waiting for Natsu. He looked at all the citizens and couldn't help but wonder what would have happened to them in they did not go back in time. The images still plastered in the back of his head, the death of all his friends that drives him forward.

"Tempus!" He looked up and saw Natsu running down the street with his trademark grin on his face. Even Tempus couldn't help but smile when he saw his old friend again. "Ready to fight!?"

Happy moment gone. "Yeah, let's head to the clearing in the woods between here and Magnolia. We can talk on the way there." Tempus said to Natsu as they both started to walk towards the path that leads to Magnolia.

"Yosh! I'm all fired up!" Natsu cried out as he grinned at his soon to be opponent. "What did you want to talk about?"

"I was thinking about our increase in magical power and I thought it best to keep it a secret from the guild until after we come back from our training in Tenroujima." Tempus stated simply to Natsu, who looked kind of shocked when he said it.

"But why!?"

"Simple really, all of our friends we had made, were as we were, growing with them and becoming stronger. We'd get placed straight into Laxus' posse if we were to immediately show up with our strength."

"Hmmm I see. But I wanted to bash Erza!" Natsu sighed and Tempus laughed at his comrade's turmoil.

"Don't worry; you will still get your chance Natsu." Tempus chuckled when the fire mage perked up at the explanation. "Also, we have two years in Tenroujima later Natsu." At this, Natsu looked confused at his partner's comment.

"Why? I thought we'd be there for a longer time."

"That's what I thought originally but then I was thinking about what Zeref said, the events will fold out in due time. So therefore, in the year X784, when you meet Lucy, you have to be there to get her into the guild." Natsu understood what Tempus was saying as he nodded his head and looked up at the approaching clearing.

"Yosh! I'm ready now!" He stated as he looked across the field at Tempus. "Don't hold back now!"

"No problem! Ready when you are!"

Natsu decided against using magic originally and ran straight too Tempus to make it a physical fight. He swung his left fist towards Tempus' skull, while Tempus took his stance. Tempus parried Natsu's blow and went to uppercut him and missed as he only hit the scarf. Natsu took his backward moment he had from leaning away from Tempus' uppercut to go down on his elbows and roundhouse kick Tempus in the chin who ducked the oncoming kick and grabbing his calf before landing 3 solid blows to Natsu's abdomen making Natsu jump from the battle quickly.

"Not bad Tempus." Natsu said to him as he regained his composure and brushed himself off. "Ready for magic?"

"Shoot." The blonde mage stated simply.

"**Roar of the Fire Dragon!**" Natsu yelled as he sent a blast of fire towards Tempus who used a shield of white light to block it. However, the fire exploded into smoke, surprising the mage as Natsu stepped through. "Gotcha! **Fire Dragon's Claw!**" He said as he brought his leg to the side of Tempus knocking him through a tree.

"**Iron Fist of the Heavenly Dragon!**" Tempus yelled as he came out with his feet and hands covered in white magic, swinging punch after punch at a blinding speed towards Natsu. Natsu jumped back, continuously to dodge the attacks from Tempus.

"**Iron Fist of the Fire Dragon!**" He yelled as their fists made contact, causing an explosion and sending them both onto opposite sides of the clearing.

"Natsu! Let's increase the power up a notch, use more skills besides the basics!" Tempus shouted over to Natsu who gave him a big grin.

"Yosh! Let's do it!" He took a stance with his arms ready. "**Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Crimson Lotus: Exploding Flame Blade.**" He yelled as he rotated arms in a circular pattern, causing a torrent of fire to ruse towards Tempus.

"**Dragon Slayer Secret Art:**" Tempus started as he too, took his stance, "**White Light: Caelum Pura.**" A burst white light shot out of the stored magic and connected with the fire magic causing another explosion leaving both boys to use their arms as shields for their eyes.

"Wow! That was awesome Tempus, one last move, now send me your strongest move!" Natsu shouted to Tempus. He brought one hand up and a red magic circle with a black outline went in front of him. "**Secret Black Art: Volcanic Devastation!**" Natsu shouted as crimson flames shot from the magic and straight for Tempus.

"**Sacred Art No. 1: Ten Layered Magic Circle:!**" Tempus shouted out as he put both of his hands in front of him, his thumbs pointing down and connected to form a diamond as ten magic circles formed in front of him, "**Apocalyptic Radiance!**" A large white blast with a spiraling vortex to it came out towards the crimson flames.

As the two moves made contact, the power sent them both into the sky where the blasts went into the clouds and disappeared from view. Both mages standing there looking at each other with a grin on their faces.

"We should get out of here Natsu, before people arrive wondering what the commotion is." Tempus laughed as he panted hard.

"Yosh!" Natsu nodded as he too, was panting hard and the two quickly left the clearing and went onto the trail towards Magnolia town. Both watched as the Council's Army ran past them to the forest to see what was going on. Paying no mind to the two boys who passed them.

"Oh wait, Natsu stop." Tempus said to him. "Let me use this magic on you, it will hide most your magic from being viewed, so Gramps can't see the magic in us. **Sacred Art: Occultus**." Tempus said as he put his hands in front of Natsu. A white light surrounded Natsu and the light slowly was absorbed into him. "Now your magic is hidden from eyes, it becomes broken if you use the percent I left out though, but as a child, you probably won't need more than fifteen percent of your magical power anyway."

Natsu nodded. "Do we leave for five years to train or do we stay until called by Zeref?"

"I gave this a lot of thought believe it or not, Natsu. I believe we should stay there for the 5 years until called to train, and then tell the Master we are leaving to train and nobody else. That way, we aren't held back by any of our friends when we live, but still making friends before we go. That way you can also get Happy like you are supposed to."

"Sounds good to me in all honesty. I think I understood it." Natsu looked ahead at the upcoming town of Magnolia and saw the Fairy Tail Guild at the edge of the town. He grinned. "There it is! Let's go!" He started running down to the city, not being able to wait to see some of his friends alive and well again.

"Oi! Wait for me!" Tempus shouted but realized it was pointless, "**Grand Magic Art: Sanctum Seal**." He said as he trapped Natsu in a barrier that was meaningless to everybody else. "Remember we didn't go sprinting into the guild when we arrived the first time. We walked in and asked if this was Fairy Tail and wouldn't you think you would scare them if you went running in hugging the first alive member you saw?"

"Oh shut up." Natsu said with a frown and crossed his arms. "I'll follow your lead then."

"Good idea." Tempus said as he released Natsu from his imprisonment and continued to walk down to the Guild. "I'm just as excited as you are Natsu…" Tempus sighed as he imagined the smiling faces of his friends and Natsu gave him a big grin.

"Don't worry Temp! We'll fix everything!" He said with a fierce determination. Tempus nodded as they entered the city.

"This place looks so different before all those attacks. I never really noticed until now." Tempus said to Natsu who just simply nodded, as he too, was taking in the surroundings. The town looked much more peaceful and lively now.

"Let's enter the guild." Natsu gave Tempus a determined look and nodded again. Tempus pushed open the doors and was welcomed into the familiar world of Fairy Tail.

The first thing they noticed was Master Makarov was in Titan Form lecturing the guild; both feared for their lives, despite the strength they now possessed.

"How many times will you brats anger the council? Do you see this paperwork!?" He yelled as he held a stack of papers in his hands, shaking them to emphasize his point. "I'm proud of all of you, yet again, for following your own hearts! We are Fairy Tail!" The Titan Makarov reduced his size and stood in front of the two boys. "Hi there!" He said with a big smile and simply asked them what they need?

Tempus was the first too speak and said, "Our fathers told us that there was a guild nearby we could request to join before they left us." Tempus point in bluntly, with a tidbit of sincere emotion, and Makarov frowned slightly at what he was just told. He looked around and told a member to get them their marks as both the boys looked at each other and grinned happily.

"What kind of magic do you boys use?" Makarov asked with another bright smile on his face.

"We're dragon slayers!" They both said in unison with a big smile on their faces to replace the smile that fell off the Master's. He looked completely shocked, and so did the rest of the guild as everything went silent.

"D-Dragon S-S-Slayers!?" He shouted his disbelief at the scenario. He just couldn't believe it, not just one, but two dragon slayers, arrived on his door step.

"Yep! I am Natsu, The Fire Dragon Slayer, I use Fire Magic! Igneel the Dragon is my dad!" Natsu shouted with great pride as Makarov turned to Tempus.

"I am Tempus, The Heavenly Dragon Slayer, I use Pure Magic. Arcadia is my mother." Tempus stated to the elderly mage.

Natsu gave him a weird look when he said Pure Magic. 'Pure Magic? I thought he used White Lightning.'

"You boys were raised by Dragons!?" Nearly the whole guild shouted out at the same time. "T-Those are just mythological creatures!"

"But it is true!" Natsu yelled back, "But they disappeared… on the same day. They told us to travel and join a guild nearby… So we weren't alone." Natsu said quietly and with a saddened expression.

"W-Well, where would you like your Marks and what color?" Makarov asked, attempting to smile, despite the news he was given as a member gave him the stamp.

"On my right shoulder, and red please!" Natsu said with high enthusiasm. Makarov put the stamp on his right shoulder and placed the insignia imprint onto his shoulder.

"And how about you, Tempus?"

"White and on my right shoulder as well please." Tempus said as Makarov obliged and did the same to Tempus.

'This boy knows one of the Legendary Magic... _Pure Magic_… Does he understand the significance of the type of magic he knows?' Makarov thought. 'The magic that has the power of all the elements in it, a pure white light known as Pure Magic. This magic has only been seen five times in history. Most recent was around X673, with the birth of the first Guild Master, who invented the Three Great Magic's of Fairy Tail using her pure magic.'

'_Tempus, I thought you used White Lightning._' Natsu thought to Tempus and Tempus glanced over at Natsu.

'_So did I. After training with Mavis in those memories, she told me about my magic being something called Pure Magic, which she stated, was given to me by Arcadia, she doesn't know why I manifested the magic into a white lightning but she helped me put the Pure Magic into its normal form so I can use more of it._' Tempus thought back to Natsu.

Natsu nodded his head in his attempt to understand, '_I'll just go with, Mavis helped you unlock it Just like Zeref is currently helping me with unlocking a magic in me._' Tempus stifled his laugh before grinning at Natsu who was grinning back.

"Hey Flame-Brain!" A boy with Black spikey hair yelled over to Natsu. "You were trained by a dragon!?"

"Yeah! What is it too you stripper!?" Natsu shouted back him.

"Oi! What did you call me, matchstick!?" Now the two children were butting heads as Makarov shook his head in shame and looked up at Tempus who was smiling at them.

"You heard me pervert!" Makarov just about had enough for the day.

"Enough!" He smashed both of the children into the floor boards using his titan magic. "Get along with the newcomers Gray or I'll have Erza watch over you two."

Gray immediately picked up Natsu, where they both swung an arm over their shoulder and resounded with a unison "Aye sir!" Makarov then walked up to his office where he was mumbling something about Brats going to give him a heart attack or another.

"Gray, your clothes." A girl with brown hair stated to him as he looked down and gasped and started to search for his clothes.

"You just have to let him know, huh, Cana?" A man with blue hair slicked back snickered.

"Of course I do Macao." Cana replied to him.

"Always knew something was wrong him." Natsu declared valiantly and Gray looked up and started to yell at Natsu.

"Oh, what was that Flame-Brain?"

"You heard me you perverted Popsicle!"

The two kids started to butt heads again before a girl with long red hair slammed their heads together. Both boys falling to the floor in a heap, Tempus was just watching, quite amused with what was going on.

"Didn't you two hear the Master?" She snapped at them.

"They were just having fun Erza." Macao joked around. Erza stopped her lecturing to glare at Macao who immediately was quiet. She looked around the guild until her glare stopped onto Tempus, who visibly flinched under her stare. She went up to Tempus and looked him straight in the eye.

"Who are you?" She interrogated.

"My name is Tempus; I'm a new member of the guild." He said. "Like him." Tempus pointed Natsu who was next to Gray, both rubbing their new injuries.

"Oh. I'm sorry for causing you pain newcomer. My name is Erza. Hit me, I deserve it." The entire guild was shocked at what she said and just stared in awe.

"I-I can't hit you." Natsu said weakly as he gulped in front of Erza. Erza then turned around back to Tempus.

"What magic do you boys wield?" She asked simply without taking her eyes off Tempus.

"We are Dragon Slayers; we came here after our parent dragons disappeared." Those words had a visual effect on Erza, who just looked at the two newcomers in awe.

"Well it's nice to meet you two. My name is Erza. I use re-quip magic." She shook Tempus' hand. "Welcome to Fairy Tail, Tempus and Natsu." She said with a smile on her face to the two Dragon Slayers.


	3. Chapter 3: Not Even the Beginning

_Chapter 3: Not Even the Beginning_

**A/N: First Thing I'd like to mention before I start the third chapter for you guys.**

**Lewamus Prime: That was probably the best first review I could have had. I originally planned to do really similar magic to Tempus but you ended up describing more than what I originally intended on doing for Tempus; I really liked the info and I will be sure to use some of it.**

**If anybody is confused on what I'm talking about, or confused on what Tempus' power implies, read Lewamus Prime's Review and he does a really good job at explaining Pure Magic. Now, onto the story!**

**Again, credit to Lewamus for adding more to Tempus as a character.**

**I do not own Fairy Tail.**

It's been five years in this Fairy Tail guild. Events have portrayed out as expected to our two young heroes, Natsu has the guild as riled up as ever. Tempus is sitting at the bar eating his lunch while he ignores the commotion going on behind him.

"Oi! Flame-Brain!" Gray shouted at Natsu as he was taking his clothes off unconsciously yet again.

"What is it ice princess!?" Natsu yelled back at him, the two boys are butting heads yet again.

"I just want a rematch matchstick!" Gray spat back at Natsu, as he curled his fist in his palm. A wide grin appeared on Natsu's face as Gray got into his Ice-Make Stance.

"You want to get beat again Gray! I'm more than happy to oblige!" Natsu yelled triumphantly as he too, prepared for the upcoming brawl.

"Would you both like a free trip to the infirmary upstairs?" Both boys flinched and gulped down in fear. Erza was standing behind Natsu, her eyes glistening with pure evil, ready to strike.

"W-We a-a-are j-just p-playing E-E-E-Erza." Natsu said weakly, as he feared for his life at the current moment. Gray was quite relieved that Erza was not behind him and gave out a small sigh thinking he got away with it, as Erza was distracted with Natsu.

"Gray! Don't think you are safe, get over here." Erza said with a glare as Gray visibly flinched after he tried to sneak away. "You two boys always argue and fight with each other… And this time… you ruined my cake." Sure enough, both of the boys turned around to where Erza was sitting, right behind Natsu, and there was a smashed cake from when Natsu challenged Gray originally. "Don't move… I will have your heads." She stated bluntly as she re-quipped to a short sword.

The two boys started running while Erza gave chase to them. Tempus chuckled at the incident as he looked at his finished plate. 'It feels weird to see everybody grow older again, to see everything I have already seen.' He thought as he clenched his fist underneath his cloak. 'But, it feels good to see everybody alive and well again. It feels as if nothing has changed at all.'

"Hey Tempus!" He turned around to the owner of the voice. It was a girl with short white hair and brilliant blue eyes. She had her hands behind her back as she was giving him and big smile.

"Hey Lisanna!" He gave her a smile back and a slight wave of his hand to add to the hello. She sat next to him on the bar and was silent for a few minutes. "Something up?" Tempus asked her. His curiosity peaked as he saw her watching Natsu.

"Not really, I wanted to tell Natsu that I would be leaving on our S-Class mission today with Mirajane and Elfman." She said with a soft smile to Tempus while playing with her hair.

'Hmm so it's that time already. Lisanna is sent off to Edolas in this mission.' Tempus looked from Lisanna to Natsu and sighed in a defeated manner. 'No matter how much I want to save her, we will still end up in Edolas, we have to let them go, and use her death as a cover up to leave and become stronger… Ugh… I'm sorry Lisanna.' He looked at Lisanna a little too long and Mirajane spotted the two together.

"Lisanna, are you coming or not?" Mirajane shouted, a little too quickly. She was glaring at Tempus for stalling her departure on her S-Class Quest.

"I'll tell Natsu for you, Lisanna. Go on, before your Sister melts me with her stare." Tempus said mockingly to Mirajane more than anyone. She glared at him before stomping over and grabbing her sister's arm and walking out the door.

"Thanks Tempus! We'll see you soon!" Lisanna shouted before they left from the guild halls, leaving Tempus to wonder if the decision he made was worth it. He turned back to his lunch and looked over at the bulletin board. 'X782, time sure flies without you even realizing it. I wonder what training we will be going through.' He thought as he thought back to the last time he heard from Mavis.

_-Flashback-_

Tempus entered his dreamland only to see nothing. He was sitting there for a short amount of time before he heard a giggle behind him. He looked around to see Mavis Vermillion. Her green eyes sparkling with enjoyment.

"Hi Tempy!" Mavis said with a big smile and Tempus flinched under the odd nickname he was just given, but shrugged it off; being careful not to upset the first Master.

"Where are we Master Mavis? This isn't the usual place you put it up in the dream." Tempus asked as he looked around the surroundings. There was nothing but white light. It was as if he was standing in empty space.

"We are in the deepest part of the world. Behind the darkness, and lost within space and time. A place only a few have ever seen. It's called the Land of the Chosen." Mavis said with a sing song voice, as she motioned her arms around her. "Natsu has to go to the Land of the Lost for the same purpose that you have to come to the Land of the Chosen. What you see around you is simply a small piece of the Land. This is simply the path between Earthland and the Land of the Chosen, the doorway if you will." Tempus tried to memorize any key details by looking around him but all he could see was white light, and nothing else. It was if he was standing in a void, so he gave up and looked back at Mavis.

"How do you reach this place?" Tempus asked her.

"You will learn when you arrive for your training on Tenroujima. Until then, we will not speak again. Good luck!" Mavis giggled as she faded away.

-End Flashback-

'Now that I think about it, she was quite vague. Oh well, not much I can do about it.' Tempus thought as he heard a crunch behind him, he turned around to see Erza stepping on Gray's head. 'She's gotten better at whom to attack, she usually just jumps the one who damages her cake now, unless she is annoyed with the fight… which is most the time.'

"Hey Tempus." Tempus looked over to his right to see Natsu standing next to him, his face showing how serious is. "Where is Lisanna?"

"She went with Elfman and Mirajane on an S-Class Quest." Tempus stated bluntly. Natsu's eyes got wide with worry as he realized what was about to happen.

"WHAT!? How could you just let them go!?" He shouted at Tempus, who merely shut his mouth when the whole guild stared at them awkwardly.

'_Shut up you fool, let me explain._' Tempus said through their telepathy. '_We both know Lisanna does not die, she only goes to Edolas, so I thought to use the death as a cover for us wanting to leave to go train for the two years. Zeref is summoning us soon if you remember.' _He saw Natsu visually flinch but calm down none-the-less.

'_Fine._' Natsu said as he stormed out. Tempus sighed and got up to follow Natsu out the guild.

…

It wasn't hard to find Natsu; he just followed the trail of fiery carnage until he stumbled upon the pink haired mage blasting fire at the clearing around him.

"Natsu…" Tempus began, trying to find the right words to say without further upsetting his friend. Natsu stopped his rampage and looked down, his body steaming from the heat he was giving off. His pink hair was across his eyes as he clenched his fist.

"You're right, Tempus. I understand why." he said as he continued to look away from Tempus.

"If it makes you feel better, we are doing this so we can protect our friends… Lisanna isn't dying, she will be back and we will be able to protect her then." Natsu unclenched his fist and looked at Tempus. A big grin on his face, despite tears rolling down his cheeks.

"You're right, Thanks Tempus." He said as he wiped the tears away. "We'll get strong enough to protect everybody. Yosh! I'm all fired up!" He shot his fist into the sky above him.

Tempus smiled, knowing he cheered up his friend. "Hey, can you do me a favor? I want to try this spell I have been working on." Natsu looked curious and took his defensive stance.

"Alright! Only if you let me do the same thing!" Natsu declared defiantly.

"No problem!" Tempus bent his knees and brought his hands up, ready to attack. "**Secret Dragon Slayer Art: White Light: Regnum Lucis!**" A large white light shot out of the ground towards Natsu, the ground was being torn apart from the power of the spell.

"**Secret Phoenix Art: Rise!**" Natsu yelled as a huge amount of magical power exploded from him creating a nearly impenetrable wall of magic in the shape of a phoenix. Both spells hit each other and exploded, sending a large impact across the air. Both boys stood there, waiting for the smoke to clear, once the smoke cleared, the Phoenix had a whole in the middle of its body from where the attack hit it but Natsu remained unscathed.

"W-Wow…" was all Tempus could say. The strength of the phoenix was something to reckon with he noticed. Natsu gave him a big grin from across the clearing, his eyes looking at the phoenix in awe.

"Just to let you know Temp! That phoenix has never been broken; I'm surprised you managed to damage it!" He yelled across to the blonde mage. Tempus laughed and prepared himself for Natsu's attack.

"**Secret Phoenix Art: Flames of Crimson!**" The leftover phoenix turned into a beam and shot itself straight for Tempus. Tempus stood his ground, readying his defensive skill.

"**Pure Magic Art: Absolute Defense!**" A small barrier incased itself around Tempus as the phoenix struck the barrier. The attack did little, to no damage to the barrier.

"Oi! That's not fair… Pure Magic Art." Natsu scoffed. Tempus laughed at him and removed the barrier. The land around him was burnt to a crisp and the trees were gone.

"I wanted to live Natsu!" He chuckled as Natsu joined in. The two slowly met in the middle as Tempus picked up his staff.

"Hey Temp, why don't I ever see you use that staff? Even in hand to hand combat, you never use it." Natsu questioned. It was true after all, despite the many battles Natsu has seen him fight over the past 5 years, he has never seen Tempus, once wield his staff as a weapon. Tempus looked disappointed when he heard the question and thought about it for a second.

"I woke up one morning to see it lying on the floor in the cave. Arcadia told me a lone traveler dropped it by for me and said to never let me use it. Just… always carry it on me. I do not quite understand either." Tempus wondered as he looked around him. "I'm going to call it a day, I'm kind of tired."

Tempus walked away with the staff tied to his back. Natsu frowned with worry at the mage. He watched as the wizard disappeared into the woods and he turned back towards the guild. 'A part of me is afraid for the future, but I want to see how much Tempus has improved… We both can't go all out on each other. We have to wait for an opponent that we have to fight. Zeref… I will kill you in the future.' Natsu walked back to the guild with a new found determination.

As Natsu walked in, he found that Tempus had not yet returned to the guild. 'He probably went to the house.' He looked down and saw both Mirajane and Elfman crying in the middle of the guild. His eyes widened as he realized what had happened. Despite living through this once before… The pain he felt of losing one of the members of his family was still all too real.

Just before he got to say anything a voice struck his mind.

'_Natsu and Tempus, your presence is required immediately at Tenroujima. I have all the preparations ready. We expect to see you hear by the end of the week._' Natsu flinched. 'Why now!? I need to find Tempus.' He gave Elfman and Mirajane a look of pain before he ran out of the guild to search for Tempus.

'_Tempus, where are you!?_' Natsu called telepathically as he frantically ran through the town.

'_I heard. I'm at the edge of the city, meet me there._' Natsu stopped, thinking about running back and decided against it. 'I'm sorry Elfman… Mirajane… We'll be back soon.' Natsu said as he bit his lip and sucked up his tears as he ran towards the edge of the town where Tempus was waiting.

As he approached the edge of the city, he saw a lone traveler standing there. Packed with the normal traveling and carrying a second set, which he assumed, was for him. Tempus had his hood up and his staff in-between the sack and his robe.

"They returned Temp… Wh-"Natsu started but was interrupted by Tempus.

"I know they did, I ran into them before they arrived at the guild. They told me everything already." He said while looking at the ground. "We'll get her back. Don't forget, she's a member of Fairy Tail… so even if we can't see her... no matter how far away she may be... we will always be watching her." Natsu looked at Tempus with tears in his eyes, obviously trying to hold them in but failing miserably.

"Mhm!" He nodded and ran ahead. Tempus smiled softly at him, thinking back to Mira.

'I promised you I'll bring her back one day; don't kill me when I get back.' He chuckled softly to himself before running to catch up to Natsu.

"Hey Tempus! Did you tell anybody?" Natsu asked him when Tempus had caught up to him. Tempus looked up at the sky and nodded. His shoes picking up mud with every step as they walked through the rain.

"I left a note for Gramps. He should have found it by now so we need to get a move on before he makes people come after us." Tempus said while still looking at the sky. 'The sky looks so sad…'

"How do we find a boat to Tenroujima anyway?" Natsu stopped and asked, just now realizing the problem with traveling to the sacred land of Fairy Tail.

"I'm not sure." Tempus said as he looked back at Magnolia. 'Be safe everyone.' He thought to himself as he pushed the desire to run back there and hug Mirajane and stop her from crying over her sister's death. "But we'll find out I guess. We may be expected to walk or swim there, with our magic; it shouldn't be too hard, just long."

"Hmmm… Race you to the port!" Natsu yelled and started sprinting towards the harbor. Laughing all the way.

"Hey! … Idiot." Tempus sighed but couldn't help but smile at Natsu's antics as he too started to run after Natsu.

…

_Dear Gramps,_

_Natsu and I couldn't accept a death of one of our guild members. We have decided to leave for a while to train so we can prevent the incident from occurring again. Please keep it a secret that we left for training. We will be back before you know it._

_-Tempus_

"What are those brats thinking!?" Makarov shouted. "Ugh... I'm going to get a heart attack because of these runts." He looked around at his guild, which has quieted down already without the pink and blonde Dragon Slayers. 'I'll need to come with an excuse to give to the other members over their disappearance. Wherever you two are… Come back to us. That is my only request.' He looked at the Fairy Tail insignia. 'Guard them for me First.'

…

The two sprinted the last two miles to the harbor with Natsu in the lead. Their shoes splashing in the mud on the path as they started to use their magic to increase their speed. Natsu jumped into the harbor first and raised his arms to the sky.

"I… win!" Natsu laughed out as Tempus caught up to him, both boys panting heavily. Natsu fell to his knees with his hands still in the sky and Tempus put his hand on his head as he was bending over trying to catch his breath.

"Y…You cheated N… Natsu" Tempus said in-between huffs. "I…If you s…started at t…the same t…time, it would h…have been more f…fair." Both Tempus and Natsu started to laugh; enjoying the moment.

"It's felt like forever since I have felt so light hearted." Tempus said with a smile on his face. Natsu nodded his head in agreement as he gave his signature grin, his chest heaving in a constant motion after the amount of effort he just put sprinting two miles.

"Are you two Natsu and Tempus?" Natsu looked up and saw a large man in a trench coat and a hood covering his face. A scar was apparent on the left side of his lip and he had a large broadsword on his back that was wrapped with a tan linen cloth.

"Yeah we are." Tempus said to the big man, the man simply smiled and motioned for the two boys to follow him as he guided them through the docks and onto a small ship. The ship was a simple rowing boat, with two oars.

"Zeref told me to pick you two up. My name is Ater, I use time magic. My only objective is to get you to Tenroujima in fifteen minutes." Both Natsu and Tempus stared in awe at what Ater had said.

"It's a two month trip old man!" Natsu said in disbelief. "Fifteen minutes!? That's wack!" Ater chuckled. He removed his hood and they got a better look at his features. He was an older man in his late forties or early fifties. He had dark red hair spiked up and his left eye was white, presumably blind. His skin was tan and his shoulders broad.

"Sit." He commanded them as they both sat on the boat instantly. Ater then started to focus his magic as a big white magic circle went above them, about two feet above Tempus' head. Tempus sat amazed; he had never seen real time magic besides the one spell Zeref cast and the attack magic Ultear used. He blinked and it felt surreal. They were two hundred yards away from Tenroujima!

"W-W-What!?" They both screamed in unison. They immediately looked at Ater, but to their surprise, he was no longer there. They were alone on the boat; both completely stupefied but what just happened less than a minute ago.

Their expression did not last long; as they looked back up at Tenroujima, two lone figures stood on the beach waiting for them. One had black hair with high collared black robes with a gold trim, along with a long, flowing white toga draped around his body. His eyes were red, but he did look angry. The other was a girl with long wavy pale blonde hair down to her bare feet with a single lock pointing upwards from the top of her head, large green eyes that appeared to have no irises. She wore a frilly, pink layered robe with a red ribbon tied in a bow around her neck. Around her belly are three diamond patterns with two blue triangles above each diamond. Each of these series is outlined in hot pink. She wore wing-like adornments above her ears.

"M-Mavis and Zeref." Natsu said, looking at the two waiting for them on the lone island. The island sat in the middle of the sea, with nothing in sight around it. It is a steep and rocky island covered with rich vegetation, yellow and green in color. One side of the island had large rock formations jutting out towards the sea from the ground; one near the shore, protruding over the sea, and the other in the center of the island overlooking it. In the center of the island, topping the second rocky formation stands the Great Tenrou Tree, a gigantic tree and the key part of the island. The branches of the tree spread out in a horizontal fashion to give the feeling of an island on top of an island.

"Let's g-go Natsu." Tempus said to him, breaking his train of thought as they rowed the boat the shore. As they got out of the boat, both boys were quite pleased to get away from the motion sickness and hurriedly jumped out of the boat and onto the sand.

"Welcome to Tenroujima for your training Natsu and Tempus!" Mavis said with a big, sincere smile on her face. "We," she added motioning to Zeref as well, "will take you to a secluded part of the island. A place known as The Shadow of the Great Tenrou Tree. At this part of the island, no monsters travel and it is a forbidden place to walk during S-Class exams. That way, your training will be distraction free and you will be able to progress more in these next two years." She took a step back to let Zeref speak. Zeref stared at the two boys and gave them a soft smile.

"You two will have two years to train here on Tenroujima, under the protection of the Tenrou Tree; you will not have to worry about death. This will help improve the limits of what you can and cannot do physically. I have gathered five strong wizards to train you two on key points. The key points are as follows: Strength of Body, Strength of Mind, Focus, Origin and finally Unison Magic. Mavis," He too, motioned to the girl standing next to him, as she only smiled, "and I will handle the actual magic portions of your training. Natsu, I will train you in the Black Arts."

"And I will train you, Tempus, in the Sacred Arts and Pure Arts." Mavis added, then nodded her head to let Zeref finish.

"We will get you two home two weeks prior to your meeting with Lucy, Natsu. Therefore, you can save her as is, the reason we are here. Do you two have any questions?" Zeref asked looking at the two of them.

"How about my fire magic?" Natsu asked, as he was worried that he did not hear any sort of training of that side of him. Zeref looked at him for a moment before answering.

"That will be a part of your magic training with me, Natsu. I will teach you the arts that will also tie into your fire magic." Natsu slowly nodded, absorbing the knowledge. While Tempus spoke up.

"Is there a schedule we have to follow while we are here?" Mavis took the opportunity to answer for Zeref, who looked like a mix of amused and annoyed to see her jump at the opportunity.

"Yes there is. Zeref and I will wake you two up; at that time you will eat your breakfast and then go see the Strength of Body Master for your first training for two hours. Strength of Mind is next for two hours, followed by Focus for two hours, Origin for three hours and Unison Magic for two hour. Then you will come to Zeref and me for, eight hours for your magic training. You will have five hours of rest in between these moments and on the last day of the week you will be able to sleep for twelve hours as we will cut all your training except Strength of Mind, Strength of Body and us, of course." Mavis said with a smile on her face. Both Natsu and Tempus shuddered, as they only had one grueling thought in their mind.

'We're dead.'

"Follow us." Zeref said as he and Mavis turned to walk towards the center of the island. "We will take you to your homes for the next two years. We will give you the day to rest, use it wisely." Mavis giggled as the four walked down the path. Tempus was spending a lot of time marking locations in his brain so he could map out Tenroujima, so if he ever needed it in his training, he had it committed to memory. Natsu, on the other hand, was enjoying just looking at the island. He only ever saw Tenroujima once, and that was during the X784 S-Class Trials in the first run through time. It was just as beautiful as he remembered it.

"Do you enjoy Tenroujima?" Both boys looked up to see Mavis smiling back at them and they both grinned sheepishly and nodded. "It's a beautiful island, as an ethereal being, I'm happy. Out of all the islands to be trapped on. This is the only one I think I could live forever on. The scenery never grows old for me."

"I have been on this island for over two hundred years." Zeref added, "I think I would prefer to see the world once again, although with the peaceful nature of this island… I'm in no rush to leave."

As the group followed the trail, they entered a darker place of the island; where the roots and branches of the Tenrou Tree started to become larger and became obstacles in the trail. The amount of roots and branches started to become so dense that it was hard to see the trail ahead. Zeref lead the group through the maze of roots and branches until they broke out into a small clearing with a small hut in the far left end of the clearing.

"You two will be sleeping in that hut. Feel free to get yourselves set up and situated, Mavis and I will be back in about an hour with dinner." The two boys nodded and with that, the two Masters left them to be by themselves. The two boys walked to the hut and opened it up; inside, the place wasn't very as destroyed and run down as they would have imagined. The hut was small, with a fire place that ran off magical power, they guessed, to keep them warm in the winter. The boys headed over to the beds, one was on either side of the hut. Tempus took the left bed; while Natsu took the right.

"It's the start huh?" Natsu looked over at Tempus who merely shook his head.

"It doesn't actually start till after training." He said to Natsu with a smile. Natsu grinned and agreed with Tempus and finished unpacking his supplies. Tempus put his stuff aside and only took out the blanket and layed it on the mattress. Natsu and Tempus took this time to talk about what they believe will involve their upcoming training for the next hour until Mavis and Zeref returned with a simple meal for dinner.

"Do not expect anything extremely extravagant for dinner. We are simpletons here and we don't hunt the wildlife. If the wildlife tries to kill you, only then may you attack the beast. If you kill it, let me or Mavis know, and we will make it into a meal. Of course, we might punish you first for killing wildlife." Both boys flinched visibly under the black mage's angry stare.

'P-Punished!?' They thought. Mavis giggled as she nibbled on her food. The boys soon joined her and ate in peaceful silence.

As they were done eating, Mavis suggested they get some rest, as tomorrow would be the roughest for them. They have to make the transition from the life they were living into this new life. Both boys agreed to the First Master and she smiled and left with Zeref.

"How do you think Fairy Tail is doing?" The lights were off and Tempus was looking at the ceiling. He thought of Mirajane, Elfman, Gramps and even Laxus, as well as the rest of the Fairy Tail team.

"I think they are still struggling through Lisanna's death but will soon move forward. With us leaving, it probably will increase the length of mourning but Gramps will probably come up with a good excuse on why we had to leave suddenly." Tempus told Natsu who nodded and rolled to his side.

"Night Temp."

"Night Natsu."

…

Tempus woke up and looked around him. The sacred land of Tenroujima was no more; the land was replaced by nothing but a wasteland. The Tenrou Tree was now a quarter of its total size, with all that was left being a charred stump. Natsu was nowhere to be found and Tempus immediately jumped out of bed. He needed to find Natsu. He grabbed his staff and through his cloak on and quickly ran out of the hut. He slammed the door open only to be met with the dead body of Natsu lying in front of the hut. He saw a man standing in the clearing in front of him. The man was wearing a black cape with a sky blue outline on the back; his face was not clearly shown.

"W-Who are you...?" Tempus called out to the mysterious man, who turned around as his skin started to morph. Tempus was shocked as the man's skin changed to a dark black shine, like his cloak, and large black wings sprouted from his back as the black skin turned to scales and the scales, in turn, were decorated with light blue markings. His lower body was gray in color and appeared to be smooth. His body turned into that of a real dragon, Acnologia, and he went to unleash a powerful roar at Tempus.

"Wake up Tempy!" A cute giggle came out of the dragon, confusing Tempus greatly. Acnologia sounded like a cute little girl. He almost died laughing. "Wake uppp!" The voice was begging him and he went into blackness, just too slowly open his eyes to see two enormous green globes staring right in front of him; too close for comfort.

"Ahh!" He screamed in surprise and fell off the bed while Mavis was giggling, her eyes filled with amusement as she patted his defeated head.

"Good morning sleepy!" Mavis said with a childish smile on her face. Her stray lock of hair bounced slightly as she looked at him. He sat up and rubbed the back of his head that made contact with the floor just a moment ago.

"Where is Natsu?" Tempus asked her, and she immediately took a sour expression when he asked that. Tempus soon feared for his life.

"When a woman says 'Welcome back' or 'Good morning' or even greets you in anyway, you will answer her instead of ignoring her!" Mavis yelled at him, her presence now becoming more of a threat to Tempus.

"G-G-Good Morning, Master Mavis!" He practically shouted out, slightly cringing; afraid of what was about to happen to him.

But instead of lashing out, Mavis smiled to him and put her arms behind her back.

"Good Tempy! Natsu and Zeref had already left to talk before you two meet the first Master you will be training with." Mavis said with a smile on her face before her face turned deathly serious. "I need to talk to you too." She stated bluntly.

"What is it, Master?"

"I need to talk to you about your upcoming training." Tempus nodded, acknowledging her to continue, as he she now had his full attention. "You may think the first five trainings before our magical training will be difficult; I will have you know, the magic training I will put you through will be the most difficult training you have ever gone through. I will be training you the 13 Legendary Sacred Spells and the many different forms of Pure Magic you will are able to control. Pure Magic, if you do not know, is a Legendary form of Magic that possesses all the elements in its most holy form. I will train you to use all form of the elements so you will able to overpower and, more importantly, outsmart any opponent you come across with the wide range of abilities you will have at your disposal." Tempus just stared at her before everything she said sunk in.

"W-W-What!?" Mavis giggled at her new student's reaction. Her eyes twinkled and she grabbed Tempus' hand and made him leave the hut.

"It's simple really!" She started as she skipped down the path with Tempus walking behind her with his hands interlace behind his head. "It will be a difficult course of magic to follow, with magic that has been lost for centuries but I have confidence you can make it through!"

"Uh-huh…" Tempus still felt unsure but he wasn't about to let that stop from giving up. "Who all has the power of Pure Magic, Mavis?" He asked and he saw her stop abruptly, so he too, stopped a little bit behind her as he awaited her answer.

"There were only five people in the history of the world that has been known to carry this extraordinary power. The Creator. The Grand Priest. The Chosen Hero. Me and You. I will tell you about all of us who has had this power in us. The Creator: He created the world of magic we walk through on a daily basis. He mastered the 13 Legendary Sacred Arts, as well as all of the different attributes of Pure Magic. However, the world is balanced; there was a second man, named The Destroyer, who had the mastery of the Black Arts. The two would constantly fight but the world is balanced, so there was never a winner. Zeref and The Destroyer are the only two Black Arts users in history; however, the mastery of Black Arts does not mean the individual is necessarily evil. It is just the type of music they use; their heart can still be made of light. The second man, The Grand Priest, is a man that is actually quite commonly known; however, his magic was lied about throughout the history books. He never used Light Magic, he used Pure Magic. Lastly, The Chosen Hero was the last person to use the magical power, however it was too much for him to control and he died before he got to use the power to any sort of extravagance. I had control over the magic, but not fully so like the Creator had. The Grand Priest was the closest to the Creator but even he did not have the power to match the Creator."

Tempus listening to Mavis as she explained the roots of Magic and also, his own magic. He looked up to Mavis, as she was eyeing him, expecting a response from him soon. He dropped his hands from behind his head as he thought about everything she had told him.

"Why do I have the power then?" He simply asked her.

"From what I could gather during my time alive, and during my time as an ethereal spirit, I believe on random occasions, all elements are gathered and one child is chosen to carry this power. I have the furthest experience with this power, excluding The Creator, and I can only say; I have unlocked only about ten percent of the actual power. I can train you to use spells that I cannot use and couldn't use in my life time because I am an ethereal spirit. It is up to you if you have the ability to master them."

Tempus was shocked after hearing her say that. 'She only had mastery of ten percent? And she created the Three Great Magic's of Fairy Tail with only ten percent…'

"Zeref has mastery of about thirty percent of the black arts; however, he also knows the power of Death. This makes him equivalent to the mastery of about seventy percent of the black arts." Tempus nodded. "Ok! That's enough for the history lesson!" Mavis said with a big smile as she pushed him into the clearing where Natsu and Zeref stood next to an old man.

"Good you are here," Zeref started, "This is Master Zorio. He will train you and Natsu in your resilience and physical attributes. Mavis and I will come to get you in two hours, good luck." And with that blunt speech, Zeref pulled Mavis away from the clearing to allow the two boys to start training with Master Zorio.

Master Zorio stared at the two boys for a moment. "Natsu… and Tempus… correct?" Both boys nodded. "I will teach you two how to take the toughest of hits, both magical and physical and remain standing, with energy to continue on. Are you ready?" Both of the boys nodded and prepared themselves for the training.

…

Zeref and Mavis headed back to the clearing two hours later to find both boys lying on the ground in front of the Master who was sitting on top of a rock. He had short white hair with a short white beard. He had no shirt on and had numerous scars amongst his body but had a gentle expression.

"Yo!" Zeref said and waved slightly to the three of them. "Sorry guys, there are no breaks." He easily picked the two up by their shirts and stood them up. "We are heading to the next Master now." They retained their balance and followed Zeref and Mavis. The two were worn out from punching a boulder and doing other ridiculous things. Their knuckles were bleeding and their bodies were bruised from the training.

The group of four stopped in a near meadow where a young girl sat. She had long light blue hair, and wore a yellow frilly robe on. She had her hands in front of her and her hands were interlaced together. Her eyes slowly opened to reveal bright pink irises and she gave the four a sincere grin before sitting back more comfortably.

"Natsu… Tempus… This is Master Aria. She will train the strength of your mind. Good luck." Zeref, again, took Mavis and left without another word. Leaving the two boys with the little girl.

"Nice to meet you! My training is pretty easy, just sit and listen to what I have to say. If you stray from listening, you will get beat up." She said with a cute smile that horrified Natsu and Tempus. "If you listen perfectly, I will heal both of your wounds for your upcoming training! Let's get started." So Aria started to teach them all about the basics of Magic and the history of the world and answered their questions as the time passed.

The training didn't go to smoothly, Natsu and Tempus both nearly fall asleep. She added more wounds to both of them which caused them to not falter their attention again. Zeref snickered from the shadows of the trees.

"Zeref…" He flinched and looked behind him to see a very disapproving Mavis.

"U-Um, H-H-Hi Mavis!" He said with a weak smile. Mavis could get more threatening than anything on the planet, and when she was angry, even he, had better watch out.

"Shouldn't you be prepping for your student's training?" She asked bluntly.

He waved her off. "I already am done with my preparations. Just need the time to come."

"Aren't you guiding him to The Land of the Lost?" She asked skeptically. "You know if he fails on the passage, he loses his soul forever."

"Yes I know. He won't fail; I know he won't. His heart and mind is already set. He'll pass through it with no problem." He said as he looked back at the trio in the meadow. Aria was stomping on their heads, obviously mad that they lost focus again. He chuckled again, thinking about the time he went and found Aria and requested her for their training. He was in a similar position while Mavis was laughing at him.

"I hope you are right. Let's go get them; the two hours are up." She stated and left to the middle of the meadow while Zeref stood up and followed behind her.

"Thank you Aria!" Mavis said with a big smile. "We'll need to take these two on their next trainers!" They both instantly stood up and ran behind Mavis, afraid of any more punishments from the little girl. Mavis started to laugh. "Thank you again Aria, Let's go Natsu and Tempus!" She grabbed their wrists and marched towards their third location.

The walk was short as they soon approached a twist of vines with a water fall in the middle. There was a man that looked to be 80 to 90 years of age with a fragile looking body. He had a bald head and long flowing white robes. Mavis bowed to the old man.

"Master Yukso… These are the two we have told you about." She said and shoved the two men ahead towards the older man. Despite his fragile appearance, he had a sense of will to him that made the two not even have the desire to question his status.

"Good afternoon Master Mavis. I will take care of these two men." He bowed and she nodded as her and Zeref left the field together yet again. Master Yukso then turned his attention to the two younger boys and lifted his eyebrow. "Good afternoon young heroes. My name is Master Yukso, come sit. We have two hours of training to go through." He motioned them to the waterfall where they sat beneath the waterfall. "I want you to focus your magical power and prevent yourself from getting wet. I will heal your wounds during these two hours."

The boys nodded and focused their magical power. The waterfall itself was created through Master Yukso's magic and he would control how much he poured on their heads, making it extremely difficult to stop the magical power.

Near the end of their training, Master Yukso slightly decreased the magical power he was pouring into the waterfall and turned to Mavis and Zeref who was standing behind him.

"What do you think of them Master Yukso?" Zeref asked him. He thought for a moment before answering the black mage.

"I have never seen such raw talent, from anyone. These two boys present abilities not known to the normal human eye." Zeref nodded at the Master's words. "I believe they can do what you want them to do Master Mavis and Lord Zeref." Mavis softly smiled and told him to pass on the children. Master Yukso released his magical power, making the sudden drop in pressure open the eyes of Tempus and Natsu.

"Let's go you two!" Mavis said with a grin on her face. They stood up and followed them out of the clearing. "This next person is inside the Great Tenrou Tree, where the focus of Magical Power is the greatest."

The four entered the tree through a small crevice in the trunk of the tree at the bottom. As they entered, a lone woman stood in the center of the tree concentrating her magical prowess.

"Master Tiama." Zeref stated bluntly, waking her up from her trance. She walked over to the four and gave a small bow. "Take care of them; we'll be back in three hours."

"Ok Lord Zeref." She replied just as bluntly as the two Master's left again. "You two… Tempus and Natsu, correct?" Both boys again, nodded and sat where she motioned them to sit. "I will train you about Origin. I see you both have Second Origin released, however there are seven more." Both boys' mouths dropped to the floor. "Zeref and Mavis were worried that the advanced level of the arts; you would not be able to handle until you learn to access at least third and fourth origin and how to force the gates of the other origins open… even for a short while."

Both boys listened extensively as she talked about what they will be doing in their training to force the gates of the origins open and how the origins will benefit and disable you if they are forced open, for a short amount of time.

"Your life will be drained and after the short amount of time is over, you will fall out and be unable to wake up for the remainder of the fight. Depending on the level of the gate you forced open, will depend on how long you will be asleep for."

Both boys nodded, understanding the negative side effects of using the Origin Gate Magic.

After the three hours were up yet again, Zeref and Mavis came to retrieve the boys and take them to their last trainer.

"What are your levels of Origins?" Tempus asked Zeref and Mavis who both looked at him, not surprised by the sudden question.

"I'm on five." Zeref stated.

"And I'm on three!" Mavis added.

The group walked in silence until they hit the clearing. Zeref stopped the group and both he and Mavis turned around to the two boys, who were curious on the sudden stop. Before they had the chance to question it however, Zeref put his hand on Natsu's head and Mavis put her forehead on Tempus'.

"**Hidden in the skies and lost between the worlds, give this boy the power to find me. No matter my location and their magical power. Give the lost to the found.**" Both mages sounded off and released magical energy before backing away.

"You two now can locate each of us respectively after this fifth lesson. You will meet with your respective teachers to work on your magical training." With that Zeref and Mavis vanished into thin air.

Natsu looked at Tempus who merely shrugged at his own confusion of what just happened and they both stepped into the clearing to be met with two young children. One was female and had long blonde hair and blue eyes, with a white robe. While the other was male had black hair and blue eyes with a black robe with a white trim.

"We are Masters Yaila and Yaruko." Said the male, his blue eyes glistening.

"We will train you in the power of Unison Magic. So if the need ever arises, you will have the ability to work together." Yaila added to original statement.

"This training is quite straightforward; you must close your eyes and focus your magical power towards your comrade. He must do the same and you must memorize the components of his magical power. Start" Yaruko told the two, who both sat and started to focus on trying to find the other.

As the two hours came up, both Natsu and Tempus jumped as both of their Master's voice shouted in their heads.

"_**Children, the time has come. Find us."**_ Natsu looked at Tempus who looked around for a moment.

"Natsu, locate your Master's magical energy. He distilled a part of it into you before we parted ways so we can find them. Master Mavis is in that direction." Tempus said as he pointed his direction to the north of the island. Natsu nodded and focused his magical power, only to find that Zeref was on the opposite side of the island.

"Zeref is over there." Natsu stated as he pointed to the south. "Good luck Tempus, I'll see you soon!" He gave Tempus his trademark smile and started to run towards the south of the island.

"You too Natsu… You too." Tempus said as he marched out of the clearing and through the thick vines to get to Mavis' location.

"Good luck our new students!" Master Yaila shouted out to them before sitting next to Yaruko. "They'll do well won't they?" She asked him as he nodded and watched the two boys disappear from the sight.

'There training is just starting.'


	4. Chapter 4: Return of the Children

_Chapter 4: Return of the Children_

**A/N: **

**Lewamus: I remember about Dragon Force and multiple element modes as well as Generations of the Dragon Slayers my good friend :], just haven't found a need to include it to the story that much in previous chapters. **

**Chapter 4 is out! The Return of our Heroes. I hope you like!**

**I do not own Fairy Tail.**

Natsu ran through the trees and saw an open rock face in the direction he was headed. He felt the black mage's presence strongly coming from that place so he ran faster to meet up with the mage. His scarf blowing past him; his muscles loose as he was no longer hurt from his earlier training. As he approached the open face, he saw Zeref sitting in the center, in a mediating position; his back facing Natsu.

"Sit Natsu, I have much to explain to you." Natsu as sat behind Zeref, who was still looking out to the horizon. He temporarily thought about how Tempus was doing but brushed it aside. "Natsu, as you may know. I am a black mage… this does not mean that I am evil, nor is the magic I use. It simply states the type of magic I use. The Black Arts is a type of magic that is as Legendary as Pure Magic. The Black Arts uses God Slayer's forms of magic as one power." Zeref brought up one palm to show that he had control of a bolt of black lightning, black fire and black wind on his fingers.

"Whoa… So I'm going to be learning God Slayer magic?" Natsu asked as he looked at the three elements fuse into a tri-elemental mix.

"Sort of. You will be learning the Black Arts, which God Slayer magic branched off of. I will teach you the root of all the God Slayer Magic. It is up to you to get the actual ability to master each individual God Slayer magic." Zeref told him, his black hair blowing in the wind as his red eyes were locked on Natsu. It shook Natsu, as the black mage was looking away from him just a moment ago.

"So basically, I will obtain the ability to use God Slayer Magic, just not any basics or stuff?" Natsu asked and Zeref nodded his head. "Sounds good to me! When do we get started?" Natsu said with a grin on his face.

"Right now." Zeref smiled to Natsu. "Sit with your back touching mine." Zeref pat the spot right behind him. Natsu stood up and sat right behind Zeref, with their backs in contact. "Focus your magical power to your very core."

Natsu closed his eyes and started to focus his power to the center of his torso. He felt his body warm up as his power focused; however, unaware to his surroundings. The ground around the two boys was starting to rumble as if an earth quake has happened. Loose pebbles and other stones were starting to float around them as their magical power started to increase. Then everything stopped and the two boys vanished into thin air.

"Natsu, you may open your eyes." Natsu opened his eyes and was dumbfounded. Tenroujima was gone and in its place was fog everywhere. He tried to find any distinct features but it was pointless, the fog was too thick. He looked to the ground and saw grass and a small trail to the left that led into the thick fog.

"Where are we, Zeref?" He asked the black mage, who looked around him before answering, as if he thought it was an obvious answer.

"We are in the Land of the Lost. This is where the Black Arts was said to have been given birth. This is where I will send you to master the basics of the Black Arts." Natsu was struggling to follow along; everything was moving too fast already.

"What?" He said weakly, trying to not lose his mind to the explanation he didn't quite understand.

"You're an idiot." Zeref huffed in exasperation. "We are in a place known as the Land of the Lost. This place is where you will do your training due to its ability to grant you the power of the Black Arts. You will look for an old relic. Follow this path until you reach an opening. Are you following?" Natsu nodded so Zeref could continue. "This path will play tricks on your mind, remember, it's not real. Once at the opening, chose the path that your heart would take. Only an honest decision will put you through to the next path. Follow the path again and you will come across a temple with the relic in it. I will wait for your return."

Natsu nodded as he stared down the path and started to walk down the foggy path. It was hard to see much of anything as he walked down the path. He heard voices that were unclear but got louder as he continued down the path. The path looked relatively straight but for all he knew he could be going in a circle. The fog was too thick to pinpoint an absolute direction so he just looked down and followed the path.

The path went on for hours, Natsu was getting impatient but wasn't about to give up. He'd walk around the world if he had to save his friends. Just then he heard a clear voice scream from the fog.

"Help!" He was about to sprint straight into the fog until he remembered what Zeref had told him.

"Playing tricks on you… They want me to stray from the path…?" Natsu took that part as the truth and continued to follow the trail. His body now shaken as he prayed it wasn't an actual person needing help. He continued to follow the trail onto the fog stared to feel like it was shifting, getting Natsu dizzy and he fell over in fear of stumbling off the trail. He lied in the middle of the trail for what like hours until the fog stopped spinning and he decided to get up and start to move again.

"Nat… su….." He turned around spontaneously to end up face to face with a demon that looked to be grinning evilly, as if his lunch was prepared for him. Natsu gulped down and prepared himself for a fight, he jumped backwards, further onto the trail and stared at the beast in front of him.

"What do you want, and how do you know my name?" Natsu demanded from the beast. The beast's grin only grew wider and his eyes more wild.

"I am not here to tear you apart Natsu. My name is Hekl, I am the demon that guards the ancient relic left by The Master. I am here to tell you to pick a path; be warned, if you pick incorrectly, you will be torn apart." Hekl said the last part as if he expected Natsu to fail, with a big grin on his face. "The first path," Hekl motioned his right hand towards a path that appeared out of thin air, "You will be given one year of life for every man you kill. If you refuse to kill people, your friends will die in their stead. The second path," again, Hekl motioned his hand to a newly appeared path, "You will be able to see all your friends forever, but Fairy Tail will exist no more. The third path," A third path formed in front of them, "Your friends will no longer exist but Fairy Tail will be strongest guild forever and you will have plentiful of riches… And lastly," A fourth path formed, it looked rotten and distraught, "Death. Choose wisely."

'I can't let anyone die… and I can't lose my home. What do I do?' Natsu looked at each path. 'My heart… I guess it is right.'

"I choose to die." Natsu said with determination, surprising Hekl. "I will not allow my comrades or my home to be destroyed."

"Oh? You have chosen wisely, young Natsu." Hekl's appearance changed to that of an older man with white hair spiked on his head. His eyes were blind and his skin, a dark tan. "I am Hekl; you have earned to see my true appearance. Very few ever pass the first test, and only one has ever passed the second. The select few that past the first test have my respect; however, I will warn you about the second test. The second half of my spirit will try to destroy your will and will try to harm your stability. Your objective is to retain your sanity and make it too the temple without losing sight of your purpose. Move forward Natsu."

Natsu nodded and followed the fourth trail toward, what he hoped to be the temple with this so-called Relic. He continued to trudge on the trail, hoping for the temple to appear soon when he saw a familiar girl with red hair run in front of her. She had brown eyes and a slender figure that was topped with her Heart Kreuz armor; however, the armor was falling apart and the woman looked weak and ill. Her head was bleeding from a mortal wound and she started to fall towards him. He went to catch her but her body fell through Natsu and disappearing, leaving a stunned Natsu.

"ERZA!" He cried out, trying to figure out what just happened until somebody tapped him on his shoulder. He turned to be face to face with the last image he saw of Tenroujima five and a half years ago. Bodies littered the floor and blood was pooling around them. He slowly turned around again to see Erza's dead body right behind him. His eyes looked upon the carnage in horror and he started shaking his head trying to remove the image from his brain.

"W-What is happening!?" He yelled while looking at the tears that was freshly falling off his cheeks, as he stared into the ground. '_It's not real._' His eyes widened as all the images were suddenly gone, Zeref warned him of this. He clenched his fist tightly as he followed the trail yet again, to find the Relic.

As he continued to walk he saw a giant building in front of him, appear as if from nowhere. He looked around and saw nothing still so he continued into the build. A lone woman was standing there; she was old with small orb in her hand and a cloth in the other and a gentle smile on her face.

"Hello young one, this is your last and final test. Pick which of these two items is the relic and you are free to go. If you pick incorrectly, the Master will kill you while you stand."

Natsu eyed the two items carefully. One of items was a worn out cloak and the other was an encrusted gem in the shape of an orb. He eyed the orb carefully then his eyes widened. This orb… is the same orb Ultear uses, without the jewels.

"I pick the cloak." Natsu said without second guessing himself. The old woman simply smiled and nodded. She approached him and handed him the cloak.

"Good pick young Natsu. This cloak is our Master's Cloak, and it is now your's. You have passed all the tests; take this door out to arrive where you started. The cloak is free to wear." And with that, the woman disappeared. Natsu stood confused and left with the cloak wrapped around his arm.

He walked along the path for another fifteen minutes or so, before he found Zeref sitting where he said he'd be waiting. Natsu waved to Zeref who gave him a smile and stood up.

"I'm guessing it went well Natsu?" Zeref asked him.

"It went well." Natsu said to him and gave him a grin. Zeref smiled put his hand on Natsu's forehead yet again and focused his magical power. The fog around them fell apart and they were standing back at Tenroujima, in the opening of the mountain. The bright yellow and green colors of the vegetation made Natsu feel more comfortable standing around here.

"We have one more hour together before you must go to sleep. From now on, because you have the cloak, getting into the Land of Lost will be easy, without trials. We will train there for your training. For now, I will show you the stances to use for the Black Arts I will be teaching you. There are 8 Black Arts, each with their own corresponding element and damage. Fire, Lightning, Ice, Water, Sky, Light, Earth and Darkness. There are others, but these are the only ones that I have the ability to teach you. If you remember correctly, you attempted Volcanic Devastation, the First Black Art. You did it correctly except you did not have the ability awakened yet, that's why your flames were not black."

Natsu nodded, thinking this was more than enough.

'I wonder how Tempus is doing…' Natsu thought.

"Put the cloak on Natsu." Zeref was looking at him and Natsu did as he was told… and instantly regretted it. A burning sensation hit him in the back as he fell over in pain and tried to pull the cloak off but it wouldn't come off. He started to scream out in pain as Zeref only watched and waited for the pain to pass.

Eventually the pain passed as Natsu layed on the floor, panting as the pain took a lot of his desire to move from him. Zeref took the cloak off Natsu and helped him sit back up, the pain slowly dying down. Zeref put Natsu over his shoulder as he carried Natsu to a river so he could use the reflection as a mirror.

"Natsu… Look." He told Natsu to look back at the water, in which he did and he was shocked. On his back was a tattoo of what he believed to be an eclipsed sun. There was a filled black circle in the middle with a circle that went all the way around it, but was open at the top, where a narrow triangle stood pointing up. With two slanted triangles pointing down into the void between the outer and inner circle. The outer circle had spikes coming out of it, which is normally to be expected from a sun insignia.

As Natsu was standing there, studying the emblem that was now etched now in his body he suddenly felt a sudden power surge up in him and he let out a scream as he fell to his knees and his flames erupted into the sky. Zeref stood on the outside and was watching in shock as Natsu's flames changed to color from the orange he was known for, to crimson, then to black and then slowly back to orange before the eruption faded, leaving Natsu out cold. The land around him was a charred crator.

"Natsu… even I couldn't have foretold that sheer amount of magical power." Zeref said before he picked up Natsu's arm and put it around his shoulder and carried the boy back to his hut.

'Good Luck Mavis…' He thought before he entered into the darkness of The Great Tenrou Tree.

…

'I hate vines.' Was the only thought on Tempus' mind as he marched through the vines, struggling to get through some of them. 'I hope Mavis doesn't kill me for taking so long to make it to her part of the island… god… I hate this stuff.' As soon as he thought it, he broke out into an area where the vines were no longer there and Mavis was sitting on her grave giggling.

"You know, you could have just gone around." She managed to say in-between her fits of giggles. "You should see the look on your face." She started laughing uncontrollably and Tempus frowned. He was not amused… at all, but he was not about to upset Mavis, so he let her have her moment. She finally stopped laughing at him and looked at him for a moment.

"What are we going to do, Master Mavis?" Tempus asked her and she looked at him for a moment before answering. Her eyes twinkled and she smiled to Tempus.

"We are going to go to the Land of the Chosen. A peaceful land where we can talk to Dragon of Old, Ardria and get you spiritually blessed. You have your staff with you, right?" She asked him and he nodded and took it out.

"Were you the one who gave this to me, Master Mavis?" She giggled and nodded. "Why? I wasn't even allowed to use the weapon."

"Simple really! Ardria requires a magical dose of the one she is going to spiritually bless; your magical energy has been stored in that staff for five years. A more than sufficient amount of time to have her test your magical energy." He nodded as he looked at the staff. The staff was a cylinder with intricate gold designs flowing around the weapon and the tips were black outlined in gold while the base color was white.

"Ok! I'm ready Master Mavis!" He picked his staff up and tied it to the back of his cloak. She approached him and took his hands in hers.

"**O, Great Dragon that Blesses those Blessed,**

**Grant me the power to enter the Land.**" Mavis said in a sing song voice as light streaks shown around the two mages, completely incasing the two in a bright light and bringing them into a land of pure white.

"W-Where are we Master Mavis?" Master Mavis smiled and let go of his hands, she soon sat down and watched him.

"We are in the crossroads. Ardria will be here soon to test you, so sit and I will explain what will happen." Tempus sat in front of her with the staff in between the two lying on its side. "Ardria will test for the corruption of your magic and for the corruption of your heart. She will make sure you are worthy of Pure Magic and will succeed in bringing honor to those with the ability. This is where the Chosen Hero failed. Ardria killed him because his intentions weren't pure… so don't lie please." She said the last part kind of weakly but recovered. "I have no worries you'll pass of course!" She waved her hands in front of her face, trying to forget the story of the healer.

"Don't worry Mavis, I won't let you down. I can't die here, my friends need me." Tempus' mind wandered to thinking about his friends. 'Elfman, Laxus, Natsu, Gray, Erza, Lucy, Cana, Gramps… Mirajane… Fairy Tail… I can't fail here, you guys still need me.' Mavis was smiling at his conviction and was proud she could rely on someone like him and Natsu.

"You have proven your heart, Child of the Light." A voice broke the silence and he turned around to see a girl standing there. She had long silver hair and piercing red eyes. She wore a skin tight dress that was cut open a little low on her chest and was frilly past her knees. She wore elbow length, gold gloves and was barefoot. The most identifying feature of her though, was the dragon scales around her body. She had dragon scales on the top of her chest towards her neck and some above and beneath her eyes. Her arms and feet were also covered in scales, it was no wonder those parts of the body was not covered by her clothing, the scales would shred the clothes.

"Ardria!" Mavis got up and hugged the older woman. She smiled and patted the young girl's head and looked back up to Tempus.

"It has been a long time, Child of the Light. The last time one of you showed up… I had him killed for his impure intentions. I pray I do not have to do the same to you." She said as she looked at him with sincerity.

"Excuse me… Miss… Ardria? You said the last one was the Chosen Hero. What about Mavis?" Tempus asked her, she looked down at Mavis with skepticism.

"Mavis Vermillion has the power of the Sacred Arts, but was not a Child of the Light. She was born as an exception that surprised the gods around us. She was born as a Fairy Child, not as a Child of the Light." Tempus was stupefied now. _Not a Child of the Light?_ He brushed it aside and chose to ask Mavis later.

"Young Child of the Light; please bring out your magic." Ardria said to Tempus who picked up his staff and bowed to her as he presented her the weapon. She took it from his position as Mavis let go of her and stood next to Tempus. She continued to examine the weapon and then she stopped and instantly dropped the weapon in shock.

"What's wrong, Ardria!?" Mavis shouted to her, worry for both Ardria and Tempus apparent in her voice.

"C-C-Child of the Light! What is your name?" Ardria managed to get out, throwing Tempus into his own stuttering phrase.

"T-T-Tempus." He stated to her, and closed his eyes; preparing to be turned into ash on the spot.

"Y-Your power surpasses even that of the first man to walk these halls." Tempus' eyes grew wide after he heard those words.

'I-I'm stronger than The Grand P-P-Priest!?' Tempus thought to himself, as he was still too shocked to say anything. Ardria, however, had recovered from her initial shock.

"I have only blessed one human with the ability to unlock the hidden power inside of him after he passed my test. The first man to show was the one I had to bless, the second man, I had to kill and the third was a woman who, because she wasn't born as a Child of the Light, she had no hidden latent ability and there was nothing to release." She turned to Mavis, "You didn't have much control or mastery over the arts, did you not, Young Mavis?"

"I knew only three sacred arts and could only use about ten percent of the full capabilities of Pure Magic, regrettably so." Mavis nodded to Ardria. "Oh! Does this mean I get to see how you release hidden latent abilities?" Mavis asked with a twinkle in her eyes and Andria looked at her before smiling and nodding to her.

"Now Tempus, was your name correct?" He nodded slowly, trying to figure out what was going to happen. She slowly walked towards Tempus and stopped about six inches from him, their eye levels were straight on and she looked at him in the eyes.

"W-What do you have to do?" Tempus asked her, as he was thrown off guard by her approach.

"Open your hands with your palms faced upwards," She started and smiled a reassuring smile and placed her hands on top of his, "**O, Father of the Children of Light, Give him the power to awaken the hidden ability he has within him. The power of the Chosen by the Light.**" She kissed Tempus on the forehead after the enchantment was over and hugged him, which took the mage by surprise. "Thank you, Tempus. The magical power you had possessed completely rid of the evil within me that was planted by the third man who came here. I need to grant the magical power into an article of clothing now; may I see your cloak?" She asked Tempus, so he obliged and gave her his cloak. He looked into her eyes and noticed her red eyes were now a shining gold.

'The evil was destroyed…' He thought to himself. She looked at him as he was given his cloak back.

"But the cloak on when you leave this land, but be warned… there will be an extreme magic release and it will be painful." She told him gravely, he nodded his head and bowed to her.

"Thank you Ardria, are you ready to go Mavis." He looked over at the pale blonde to the right of him.

"Mm!" She nodded and waved her goodbyes to Ardria before grabbing his hands and disappearing back into Tenroujima.

The light disappeared and was replaced with the familiar surrounding area of Master Mavis' grave. The area was very tranquil and there was an opening in the roof, per say, of the area.

"Ok Tempy! Put the cloak on like Ardria said!" She told him, he waved her off and put it back on. He suddenly felt a burning sensation in his back and dropped on all fours as his back started to steam, he decided to try and tough through the pain and listen to what the wise dragon told him to do. Mavis, on the other hand, looked extremely worried as he was withering in pain. Eventually the pain stopped and he was left lying on his stomach, too weak to get back up.

He chuckled darkly to himself, "I-I did i-it Master M-Mavis." He said with a bright smile, despite the lack of energy he now had. "W-What happened, do you know?" She shook her head but had a good idea, so she went to Tempy and removed the cloak and saw an insignia was etched through his clothes and onto his skin. The insignia had a clear orb in the middle with streaks of flowing black coming from the north, south, left and right of the circle which were connected to and outer circle. The outer circle had curved streaks that flowed in both directions at the north, south, left and right ends as well.

'T-This is the Mark of the Chosen. D-Does that mean Natsu got the Mark of the Lost? The Black Sun and the Black Light.' Mavis used a spell to allow Tempus to see what she was looking at.

"T-That's on me?" He asked, as he was unsure on how to react as she helped him up. She nodded to him, but their moment was shortly interrupted as the marking started to glow and a huge power immersed itself from Tempus. As an Ethereal Spirit, she did not have to worry about being damaged, but she jumped back to see the full amount of power that was released. She saw pure white light shoot up into the clouds as the ground around her was being lifted into the air momentarily and a crater formed around Tempus' body. The light died out as he fell back onto his stomach, as he was now out cold.

…

Zeref laid Natsu unto his bed and looked around to see Mavis wasn't back with Tempus yet. He stepped out of the hut to see a streak of white light in the sky, knowing that the same thing that happened to Natsu was happening to Tempus.

'This sheer amount of magical power. Is this the true legendary magic?' He thought to himself but brushed it off as he walked over to the source of the white light, figuring Mavis would not be able to carry Tempus. He went around the vines and into her sanctuary that held her grave where he saw her sitting on her knees next to Tempus.

"Zeref! My healing spells won't work on him right now… I think his own release is stopping me from being able to heal him." She pouted and Zeref slightly chuckled to himself. He walked over and picked Tempus' arm up around his shoulder so he could lift the man.

"Mavis, you carry his cloak…" he noticed her worried and saddened expression as she picked up his cloak and staff off the ground. "Don't worry Mavis; he'll be fine by tomorrow. The same thing happened to Natsu and he is already recovering." She smiled at him, now reassured as she followed Zeref to the boys' hut.

"Did he… get the Mark of the Wanderer on his back, Zeref?" Zeref looked to Mavis who was staring at him seriously. He let out a sigh and nodded.

"He did, the power release was equivalent to Tempus'." Zeref said to her as she looked forward again, content with his answer.

"Oh wait! What am I going to do about the S-Class trials! What would they do if they see a sudden crater in front of my grave!?" Zeref also looked dismal about that scenario.

"Crap… We could have it blocked with a boulder maybe?" Mavis shook her head, imagining the Third Master punching the boulder down in his Titan Form.

"I'll call upon the animals of the forest to fill the whole, and then I'll use magic to grow plants there yet again. It will be about two months till it will all be done, but that will be about two weeks before this year's S-Class Trial. So I should be able to make it!" She said with a found determination.

"You know, if you are coming to close, I can stall them for you." Zeref said with an evil grin, holding his hand out with a ball of Black Winds was forming, which was broken and interrupted by Mavis hitting him and giving him a threatening glare.

"Did you just threaten my Fairy Tail?" She asked him, with a deathly tone.

"I-I-I was joking M-Mavis." He chuckled lightly trying to get her to calm down. "Come on, we are almost at the huts." He added as he took off running to the hut while holding onto Tempus. Mavis shook her head and followed behind him to the hut where he layed Tempus on the mattress in his room.

Mavis stood next to Tempus and focused her magical power while Zeref gave her a skeptical glance.

"This will guarantee that these two will be refreshed and ready to move by tomorrow." She told him as he nodded and left to where he will be going to sleep. "**Sacred Art No. 11: Radiance of the Sun!**" She shouted as a great holy light shone in the cabin, healing Tempus fully of his injuries and even some of his magical power. She turned around and went to Natsu's room to do the same to Natsu; who was already looking better before the spell was cast.

"See you two tomorrow! You two did well on your first day." She giggled and skipped out of the hut, leaving the two to sleep peacefully for the night.

…

Mavis and Zeref walked to the hut that housed the two boys. They wore exhausted expressions as they were up all night looking into more details of the marks the boys had received the day before on their backs but both could find barely anything on either of the marks. Both were quite displeased with their coming up empty handed on the subject; their eyes portrayed their sullen expressions as the two marched towards the hut.

"I'll go get Natsu awake." Zeref stated simply as he walked into the right room, where Natsu was sleeping. Mavis nodded as she entered the left room, where Tempus was sleeping, still looking sullen from her disappointment in herself.

During the boys' training with their respective masters, they had the other five masters improve the boys home and turn it into a two room hut, to give both boys their own room. The hut was still run down but it was a little larger than before, with a middle room and two rooms branching off for each of the boys.

"Natsu, it's time to get up." He said flatly as he was lying in his bed, looking somewhat like a monkey. His arms were spread out wide and his legs were in awkward positions that made Zeref question how he got them there in the first place. "Wake up, Natsu." He still wasn't getting up so Zeref did the only thing he knew how to do… He kicked him.

"Ouch!" Natsu yelped as he fell off the bed and jumped straight to his feet. "Hey, what's the big idea Zeref!?" Natsu yelled straight to his face making Zeref smirk.

"You look healthy Natsu; it looks like Mavis' magic did the trick." Zeref stated simply. "Let's go, Tempus and Mavis should already be waiting for us." Natsu stopped his steaming anger and nodded to the black mage and followed him out the door.

Both Tempus and Natsu looked healthy and ready to train yet again, despite the events that happened last night.

"Life your shirts and let me see your backs." Zeref told them both, who eyed him questionably but did as he asked. Zeref and Mavis' mouths dropped to the floor, the circle in the middle of the tattoos of both men turned to a full fledge yin and yang to represent the balance between chaos and life. "I-It changed…?" Zeref stated in disbelief, causing Natsu and Tempus to freak out.

"What does it look like!? Tempus check my back!" Natsu shouted at him and Tempus turned around to look at his back. He had a slightly different insignia than him but he had the yin and yang insignia in the middle.

"You have the yin-yang on your back, Natsu. Check mine." He told him as he turned around to let Natsu see his back.

"You too! Why did it sudden appear like that?" Natsu asked Tempus who merely shrugged and they both looked to Mavis and Zeref for direction.

"Perhaps… it is because you two are together. The forthcoming of the Wanderer and the Chosen together creates a balance and increase in the lost power." Zeref stated. "I read that in an ancient book yesterday, it was the only thing I could find on the marks… We should get you to your training. We don't want you to be late." Natsu and Tempus hesitated before nodding and following Zeref towards the first Master.

'They will be ok… won't they?' Mavis thought to herself before she followed the three boys in silence. The boys started their training once again with Master Zorio.

…

"Master, have you seen Natsu or Tempus? They have been gone for two weeks!" Erza complained to the short Master. The Master hid his look of worry, he knew they left to train but had no idea how long they would be back.

"Um, sorry, what was that Erza?" He asked her, pretending to have missed the question so he could have time to think about the question. Erza gave him a skeptical glare but brushed it aside, thinking it was better not to question the Master.

"Where are Natsu and Tempus? They left two weeks ago and we haven't heard from them! Do you know where they went?" Erza asked again so the Master had to answer her this time. He sighed out and came up with an excuse of the spot.

"They went to follow the rumor of a dragon spotted near Crocus." He said flatly, hoping she would take the lie, to his surprise, and his relief, she did.

"Crocus!? That is a two week trip by train! Why didn't they tell anybody!?" She asked, enraged that the two would just disappear at such a time to hunt for a Dragon. Master nodded his head as he was thinking about how to respond to Erza. She was rightfully angry and, with the current mood of the guild, he also wished for their return. The guild was quiet over the loss of one of their families; as well as, the disappearance of two loud Dragon Slayers immediately following the loss.

Mirajane took it the hardest, blaming herself for the loss of the Dragon Slayers as well and her whole appearance, as well as mood, changed. She was sullen and barely ever smiled to anyone anymore. Her large blue eyes always looked as if they were an inch away from tears and it was obvious she tries to keep it in around the rest of the guild. She now wore a sleeveless maroon dress that went down to her ankles, with a large pink bow and similarly colored trimmings that act as straps around her neckline and circle around the waist. She needs them to return home soon, but he has a feeling, they wouldn't be home soon. He let out a sigh and turned his attention back to Erza.

"They took the rumor and left as soon as they heard it. You know how those knuckleheads are when it comes to Dragons." Makarov stated to Erza and continued to observe the guild. The guild was no longer the same; the guild was quiet without the fuel to the fire and each member started doing their average daily activities and only focused on the missions when they needed too.

"I understand, Master." Erza said as she turned around and stormed out the guild, anger obvious in each step she took, also with the wall she destroyed as she left through it.

"You boys are going to be murdered when you return… I hope you have the strength to endure it… I won't need to add to the misery Erza will shell out to you two." Makarov sighed and looked to Mira before approaching her and talking to her.

"The usual drink, please Mira." He said to her simply while she went to go get his order without saying a word. "I understand you are upset Mira, the boys will be back before you know it. They are not gone forever." He told her, to try and cheer her up and she gave him a halfhearted smile.

"I'm ok Master." She said with a light cheerful tone and he sighed again, knowing she was far from it.

"Mira… It isn't your fault the Dragon Slayers left, they are only chasing after a Dragon again." He was afraid that the news would hurt Mira, to know that they left at a time like this to hunt a dragon but instead she looked terrifying. She was giving an odd smile, hiding the anger behind her and Makarov had to restrain himself from chuckling, as well as wincing, at the doom he has set upon his two children.

"I-I-I see." She said to him, while holding up her smile. Her hand broke the wood she was holding onto before she left the bar.

'Sorry kids, you really are doomed now. Erza and Mira… I'm sorry.' He thought as he nodded and started to drink. 'Come back soon though. We all wait for your return.'

…

"Master!" Makarov flinched and turned around to see a very angry Erza. "Where are they!?" Makarov sighed, the boys have been gone for nearly three months now and Erza has gone out on multiple occasions to search for them with no luck, despite his own hopes for her to find them.

"As I said Erza, they went to search for a dragon. They may have heard another rumor while they were in Crocus and changed course." Erza glared at him, obviously not believing what he had said to her but complied and sat down in an angry huff in front of the bar.

'Where did those knuckleheads go to train? It is as if they disappeared fully off the earth.' Makarov said and looked at the sky. 'It's not as if they would be safe if they returned. With the two S-Class girls here, they may end up losing blood when they return. I would still prefer to see their faces again; it isn't like them to spend so much time away from the guild.'

…

It's been two years since our heroes have been seen anywhere near Magnolia, nor even the Fairy Tail guild. Most of the guild has given up on them but a few members know they are still out there. They are waiting for the two men to walk through the guild doors and to bring a lively cheer to the guild that has been missing since their disappearance. Most of the guild has come to conclusion that the duo was killed on one of their dragon escapades, but that idea was shot down immediately by the people who believe in their return.

**Flashback**

"_Take this Mirajane." She looked up from her tears to see Tempus standing in front of her, holding out his hand with a necklace dangling that had a faint glow on the object attached to it. The necklace had a star hanging from the bottom; it was a simple design to the necklace, and the star was clear, as it was made of a crystal._

"_W-Why?" She asked him as she took the necklace from his open palm. He didn't answer her but instead, motioned her to put it on. She did as he requested her too and the necklace glowed a faint blue, before it went back to the original white glow the necklace possessed before she had put it on. _

"_That necklace is infused with my magic, you will be able to tell if I'm alive with the magic inside. As long as it glows, I am still out there." Tempus nodded; content with the way things were, and walked off towards the gate. _

"_Wai-"Mirajane started but was interrupted by Elfman._

"_Wait Tempus!" He shouted but the blonde boy didn't stop and instead put his hand up in the air; with his index and thumbs pointing out and the last of the fingers incased into his palm._

"_Take care of everyone Elfman, I'm counting on you!" Elfman stopped for a moment before putting his hand up in the air in the same manner Tempus had his; Elfman being near to tears._

"_Come back as a man, Tempus!" He shouted before he disappeared over the horizon, headed towards the gate of Magnolia Town. _

**End Flashback**

Mirajane looked around her neck to where the necklace was. She could still feel the warmth emanating from the object and she softly smiled to herself. He was alive, and she knew she would see him again. Mirajane has gotten to use to the familiar feeling of Tempus' magic and she feels cold if the necklace is not lying on her chest.

"Mira." She turned around to see Erza sitting on a stool in front of the bar. Mirajane gave her a bright smile, as it was rare she saw the red head anymore. Erza was always off doing missions, hoping to find the two boys who disappeared two years ago.

"Nice to see you too, Erza!" She commented nonchalantly and the knight glared at her as she gave her a slice of strawberry cheesecake. "Have you had any luck?" Mira asked her, her expression now nothing but seriousness.

Erza shook her head sullenly. "I can't even find a rumor of the two. It's like, no matter what I do, there is nothing to locate either of the two. It seems they just disappeared." She looked up at Mirajane who was just simply shaking her head.

"I know they are out there, they are alive." Erza nodded, and showed her a new S-Class Quest.

"I'm taking this quest. See you in a few weeks Mira." She gave the white haired mage a small smile before leaving the guild with her abnormally large pile of luggage.

'She's going to stress herself out… But nothing I can really do about. She doesn't have the same luxury of being able to feel the magic of one of them… So she has to search, besides, it's more her personality to search for the lost.' She gave a small smile and gripped the necklace in her left hand. 'Return home soon Tempus.'

…

"Go Tempus! Show me how much you have grown!" A childish giggle broke into his thoughts as he jumped out of the rocks he was hiding in and he saw more rocks being shot at him from Master Zorio. He put his hands together and shot streaks of white lightning and destroyed all the oncoming rocks before he rolled onto the ground before he stood about ten yards from Master Yukso. He eyed his opponent down, waiting for him to make a move before he heard the sound of a dagger moving through the trees from his left and right. He raised both of his arms up to created two rock walls to either side of him where the air slashes harmlessly hit both walls.

"Dang it! We missed Yaruko!" Yaila said with an upset, childish blow up face as she stepped out of the trees, followed by Yaruko on the other end. Tempus eyed them both as he took count of how many opponents have showed themselves after their sneak attacks were for naught. He eyed his surroundings to see if he could see one of the other three Masters trying to launch an attack on him. His eyes widened and he suddenly jumped backwards as a body landed where he was just a second ago, trying to crush him with a sudden air maneuver. The man charged Tempus from the dust and Tempus took his fighting stance as the man ran towards him, the man swung a left hook towards his jaw but it was easily parried by Tempus' left wrist; however, the man already had his knee coming up and Tempus didn't have enough time for a counter attack, so he brought the palms of his hands down knocking the man's knee down. The man tried to charge Tempus with a right handed jab, but Tempus side step and round house kicked him in the ribs knocking him into a nearby tree.

"Nice kick Tempus." Zeref stated nonchalantly as he just watched Master Zorio get sent into a trunk of a tree. Mavis giggled at Zeref, who was unexcited because he wanted to see his own pupil fight. He huffed out a sigh and continued to watch the fight.

Tempus stood in the middle of the four Masters who were all eyeing him warily. Tempus watched their feet and arms for a sign of magic being used, as well as any signals that could be used to signal the other two to come out and attack. Knowing Aria, she is telepathically announcing a strategy to them, he needs to locate her and take her out first, he realized. Soon enough, the last attacking mage came at him, Master Tiama. Master Tiama launched an instantly powerful attack but Tempus side stepped it and instantly broke the distant in a flash, surprising her as he kicked the back of her knees and placing two fingers at the base of her throat and her forehead. He looked to the far right into the trees and smiled to himself.

'Found you.' He couldn't risk, a frontal assault so he relied on casting a spell to take out the strategist. "**Sacred Art No. 2: Mountain of Glass!**" He shouted as he put his hands to the ground, causing a large rupture of crystal clear ice jut out of the ground and rapidly rush towards his intended target, which didn't have the ability to dodge the attack and instead, got hit and incased in the ice, knocked unconscious by the attack.

"You got one Tempy!" Mavis cheered from the sidelines as Zeref gave her a skeptical look. She looked like she was at a carnival and watching her favorite act. Zeref sighed again and paid attention to Tempus while Natsu walked up beside them, wearing the black cloak.

"We've gotten stronger; I remember it was scary to fight one of our Masters. Now, here we are, having to fight all six of them, but I'm not afraid." Natsu stated, cringing at the memory of him being told by Zeref to duel Master Zorio.

"You have trained hard, just like my own pupil." Mavis stated, the thrill of the fight evident in her voice as she watched the four masters heading towards Tempus. "It's scary the sheer amount of power you two have possessed. Both of you have exceeded my initial expectations, and have surpassed the greatest wizards I have seen in my life time."

"Mine as well." Both looked towards Zeref who was staring intently at Tempus. "I have lived for many, many years and I have never seen a mage with this sheer amount of power. You and Tempus are equal in power; the only difference is that Tempus was trained by The Fairy Tactician, so he can come up with strategies nearly as well as his teacher." Mavis blushed at the statement but looked back towards the fight.

Tempus blocked a punch from Master Zorio with the palm of his hand and sent a powerful gust of wind out from his palm, sliding the mage away from the oncoming fight. Master Yukso ran towards Tempus with his armor of Earth to shield him from Tempus' attacks. Tempus, however, had something else entirely planned. He stuck his hand out and caught the armor and dug his fingers in it.

"**Secret Pure Magic Art: Crystallex Intervention!**" Tempus yelled, causing the rock to turn into a brilliant crystal. The magic was so purified that Master Yukso no longer had control of the rock and was trapped in the crystal. Master Yukso closed his eyes, acknowledging his own defeat. Masters Yaila and Yaruko jumped in the air and focused their magical power together to create a devastating Unison blow.

"**Twin Art: Rumbling Lightning Cold!**" They shouted as a streak of blue lightning charged Tempus. Tempus raised his hands together and aimed them towards the duo.

"**Dual Sacred Art: Supernova Typhoon!**" The two twins didn't last long as the flames and water reached them, causing an explosion in the sky and knocking them back into the side of the cliff. Tempus turned to his final opponents; Master Tiama and Master Zorio. "I'll finish this quickly if you do not mind." Tempus told them, while they prepared themselves for the oncoming attack. "**Secret Pure Magic Art: Light Manifestation.**"

"Yay!" Mavis shouted as Zeref and Natsu both looked at her with a questioning stare. "Light Manifestation is a move that he mastered on his own," She explained, "It allows him to become light and, well, I wanted to see him use it at least once." She said with a goofy grin; however, by the time they looked back, both of the Masters were already out. Mavis looked depressed, as if she was about to cry. "B-B-But I wanted to see it." She sniffled out as tears brimmed beneath her eyes.

"Don't cry!" Both boys shouted at the same time, "TEMPUS! Hold her! It is your fault!" All of them looked at Tempus who was breathing hard. Zeref made the connection to the Light skill and nodded his head.

"Turning into light must take a lot of magical energy, a last resort spell I take it." Tempus nodded and smiled weakly to him as he slowly fell backwards into the mud. "Mavis, heal everyone here. So Natsu can fight as well." Mavis sniffled and put her hands in the sky.

"**Sacred Art No. 11: Radiance of the Sun!**" Every person that was lying down unconscious stood up, perfectly fine and refreshed. "Your opponent will be Natsu this time Masters." They all nodded and stood around Natsu while Aria disappeared. Natsu stood there with his arms beneath his cloak, his eyes quickly scanning each individual fighter.

"Natsu is further ahead than Tempus in the Origin Training; he is already on five while Tempus is still on four." Zeref explained to Mavis, who nodded her head. Tempus was now sitting with them, watching Natsu.

All five masters attacked simultaneously, realizing that a one of one fight would not work on Natsu, as it did not work well on Tempus, who lined them all up. Natsu stood there with his eyes closed as the five masters charged him ready to deal a finishing blow immediately. Natsu slowly opened his eyes as he decided to flood open his magical power releasing an eruption of orange flames from beneath him causing all five masters to stop before approaching the Fire Dragon Slayer.

"**Burst!**" Natsu yelled simply as the fire spread around the entirety of the battlefield, shocking everyone but the three spectators. "**Lost Fire Dragon Slayer Art: Flicker Fire!**" Natsu stated as his whole being dispersed into flames.

"Unlike Tempus' Light Manifestation, this requires a lot less magical power, allowing him to use it more often for fights and allows him to fight longer." Zeref told the two and they both nodded, as they have seen it before when they had him duel Natsu. The fight ended in a draw with both fighters falling out at the same time.

Natsu reappeared behind Yaruko and sent him into a tree instantly with a large burst of fire, affectively knocking him out. Master Zorio was instantly in front of Natsu, planning to punch the boy but as he swung his arm, Natsu turned to fire yet again and his punch went right through the fire mage; surprising the man as Natsu materialized yet again, now with an open attack on Master Zorio, as he was off-balance.

"**Roar of the Lightning-Flame Dragon!**" He yelled as he released the pent up energy in pointblank range at Master Zorio. Sending the man into the ground as he barreled through the ground and ended about a half mile away.

"Sheesh…" Zeref said, looking kind of like he wanted to go hide in a hole. "I hope he didn't kill him." Mavis raised an eyebrow at him, the black mage known for killing. He noticed and hung his head in shame as she started laughing along with Tempus.

Master Yukso charged Natsu with his earth armor, knowing that Natsu does not have the same ability as Tempus to purify his magic. Natsu looked at him for a moment before jumping backwards.

"**Black Art No. 2: Sheer Cold!**" He yelled as a blizzard rushed in from nowhere freezing Master Yukso in his rock suit. Natsu turned to see Yaila trying to wake Yaruko up and Tiama standing in between them. He jumped up to them and created a ball of fire in both of his hands, one black and one orange. "**Dazzling Blaze of the Dragon God!**" He yelled out as he engulfed the two of them knocking them out easily.

Aria stepped out of the bushes with her hand raised. Her body was shaken as she had just witnessed her fellow comrades easily wiped out twice.

"I-I give up." She stated and Natsu grinned.

"Well," Zeref started, "Both of you have passed the final test. I am proud of both of you and I am excited to see how far this power will bring you two in the future. Say your goodbyes, Mavis and I will prepare the ship for our departure." Zeref and Mavis left through the woods, leaving Natsu and Tempus with the five masters. They looked at the five masters before both bowing in front of them.

"Thank you for your teachings, Masters." They said in unison. The Masters smiled at their two students.

"We will part ways today children," Master Yukso spoke for the rest of the group, "One day, we may meet again, and I would love to see you two manifests into men. Take flight children, today is a day for you. Go back to your home and embrace those you have longed to be near yet again!" Natsu and Tempus looked up to see all five masters vanished. They both to each other with a big grin and nodded before running to catch up to Mavis and Zeref as they both wanted to see their friends yet again.

Mavis and Zeref was waiting upon a ship that was set in the ocean about a quarter mile away from the shore. Tempus and Natsu just climbed upon the top of the ship to face their true Masters, both looked sullen to see their pupils from being so close to having to leave them. Zeref moved his fingers and the ship started to move towards Hargeon Town, where they could dock and the boys could go back home.

"Natsu, come with me." Zeref stated as they walked towards the opposite end of the boat, leaving Tempus and Mavis along on the front end of the boat. Zeref stopped at the end of the boat and looked behind him at Natsu, who was bewildered at the odd movement. "Mavis and I wanted to talk with our pupils privately." He stated to Natsu. Natsu nodded his head as he understood, and sat in front of Zeref. "As you may know… Your goal is to kill me at the end of all of this."

"Even if you say that, it is kind of hard to have the desire to kill you now." Natsu told him and he put his hand up to let Natsu know he wasn't done yet.

"There is another way. If you can kill all the Demons that I have left on this world, including Acnologia, then my soul will no longer be bound here and using Tempus' Sacred Magic, you can take away my magical powers. My curse will be lifted and we will both be happy." Zeref stated and Natsu immediately nodded his head, liking this idea much better than the first. "Now, I will talk about the less depressing stuff. I am proud of you, and how much you have grown. You are the Wanderer from the Legend and your power surpasses my own. I got you an item… a parting gift if you will." He reached into his robes and pulled out a book and set it in front of Natsu.

"The Books of Zeref: Volume X?" Natsu asked, confused on why he was given a book.

"This book is a special edition to my series. This includes all the Black Arts that are not lethal, nor involves the making of demons. This book will help you master new forms of your Black Arts." Zeref stated to him and Natsu grinned sheepishly and grabbed the book.

"Thank you Zeref! I'll free you of your curse, I promise and when I promise something; I don't break it." He gave Zeref a determined look that made the black mage smile and nod.

"Let's head back to Mavis for our final good byes." The two stood up and headed back over to the two mages at the front end of the boat.

…

Tempus watched as Natsu and Zeref walked away before looking at Mavis who was on the verge of tears. He was thrown off guard by her sudden tears; her winged ornaments were slumped down and she was looking at him before she ran and hugged the boy. He was taken off guard, yet again from the young Master in front of him but he hugged her back despite being confused to what was going on.

"Tempus… this is supposed to be our final goodbyes from Master to Student before you and Natsu continue your journey off with your friends back in Fairy Tail." She stated sadly but with a smile on her face. "You have been through so much these two years, and I wanted to tell you that I am very proud of you. I wish I could stay around you longer but I must stay in Tenroujima for now."

"Don't be so said, Master Mavis. We have the Grand Magic Games coming up in seven years and when that happens, you'll be able to see me again." Mavis smiled and nodded, still clingy to the blonde boy. She looked up at him with a bright smile that he matched with one of his own.

"I have something for you Tempy!" She stated as she sat down and made an item appear from magic. The item was an orb of golden color and had the Fairy Tail insignia on it. "This was created a little while ago. This is a sealed Fairy Sphere. How this will work, in your time of greatest need, this orb with release the power of Fairy Sphere to shield you and anybody you deem as a comrade that is with the range of an attack that would have caused you death and will teleport you to my care here in Tenroujima." Tempus nodded, seeing the significance of the orb as he put it on the inside of his cloak pocket. "And one last thing for you." She pulled a small wrapped rectangle gift. He unwrapped it and he saw a picture of him and Mavis smiling and laughing on one of their training sessions. The blonde mage was sitting on a rock with his right hand out in front of him and his palm open and his left hand was on the rock. His eyes were closed and his face was a big smile, while his clothes were his normal white cloak and black pants. Behind him was Mavis, her arms hanging from around his neck as she was laughing, her green globes showing how happy she was. Tempus smiled at the photo, he put the photo away as well and looked back to his Master.

"Thank you Mavis, I will treasure them greatly, both as your student… and as your friend." He said the last part with a big grin that made her grin as well and hug him harder. At this time, Zeref returned with Natsu and Mavis broke apart from Tempus and stood next to Zeref.

"At this point in time, you have both completed the training we have prepared for you. There is much more to learn that we could not teach you, and will never be able to teach you. There are some things in this world that cannot be taught by another, we all learned something from each other throughout this training and as your Master I would like to say, Good luck out there, I will be watching." Zeref finished his miniature speech and took a step back to allow Mavis to talk.

"I am proud of my little Fairies. Make Fairy Tail proud, the both of you. That is all I have to say, I will see you again." She said with a big grin and took a step back. Zeref waved his fingers in a circular motion, and then the ship suddenly appeared at Hargeon Harbor.

"Go! Back to your friends; your family! And protect everybody!" Zeref shouted as both Tempus and Natsu looked at each other and ran off the boat, ready to see their friends once again. They both took one last glance at their Master's before they continued to run through the town. "See you soon, you two." Zeref said before him and Mavis vanished with the boat.

"Wait, Natsu! We should pick up Lucy right?" Tempus said to Natsu who skidded his feet and nodded. "I will wait outside of town for you to be done." Tempus said and Natsu nodded and ran towards the center of town.

…

"It's the Salamander!" Natsu heard a voice swoon and he already felt pissed from thinking about Bora. He moved towards the square and saw a group of women swooning over a fake Salamander. He pushed his way through and saw Bora looking straight at him, but what he was looking for was the blonde to the right of him. He acknowledged that she wasn't looking at Bora the same with every other girl was, meaning he broke the hold the charm had on her.

"Who the hell are you?" He stated to Bora, who flinched as he wasn't noticed.

"W-Who am I?" He said, trying to regain his composure. The man was relatively tall with short, spikey hair jutting outwards, with a light fringe left hanging over the left part of his face. His most distinctive feature was the tattoo over his right eye that looked like tongs. He wore ornate clothing, presumably to live up to his imposter role. A high collared cape down to his knees. "I'm the famous Salamander, I'm sure you have heard of me." He stated to Natsu with a slight twist of his head.

Natsu just simply walked away and was disappointed, yet again but the girls attacked him, angry at the way he treated Bora. 'What's wrong with these girls?' He thought to himself.

"Ladies, Ladies, calm down. No need to attack the poor man." Bora said to them. "Here, as a token of my apology, have my autograph." He gave Natsu his autograph, who still looked disappointed for totally different reasons this time.

"No thanks."

He was found next to some trash bags, bruised.

"Ouch, I hate those girls." He thought to himself as he brushed himself off.

"Um, thank you." He turned around and saw Lucy looking at him. He wanted to get up and hug her, right then and right there, but that wouldn't have been very good to do so he said what he think he should've said.

"What for?" He asked, trying to feign stupidity.

"That man was using Charm Magic, when you walked in, the charm broke for me although I do not know why. Why don't I treat you to some lunch?" She asked him as he looked at her skeptically before nodded and giving her a big grin.

Lucy was going on and on and on about magic and the life of wizards during the lunch while Natsu was stuffing his face. Then she said that she wanted to be a part of Fairy Tail and he nearly choked.

"I'm sorry, did I say something wrong?" Lucy asked as he was recovering himself.

"No, no, you said you wanted to be in Fairy Tail?" He asked her and she nodded. "Perfect, then come with me, I'll take you there!" He said as he brought his black cloak back to show his red Fairy Tail mark on his right shoulder. She looked shocked and he chuckled at her.

"Y-You're a Fairy Tail wizard!?" She asked in disbelief.

"Yosh! And my friend who is waiting for me outside the town is one too!" She looked at him in amazement and smiled as he told her stories of Fairy Tail. "Let's go! My friend probably already handled Bora!" When he said that, she looked at him as if she missed something.

"Bora?" She asked him, confused.

"Oh! Sorry, that was the man that was using the Charm Magic." He stated to her as they were leaving the restaurant. He walked with her to the outskirts of town to see a blonde mage with a tied up Bora in front of him.

"W-What are you!?" Bora yelled at the boy who gave him a toothy grin.

"I'm a Fairy Tail wizard and I won't let you dirty the Fairy Tail name." Tempus shot to the man before hitting him in the back of the head and knocking him out. At this time, he noticed Lucy and Natsu approaching. He gave them a friendly wave and smile, which Natsu returned. "Yo!" He called to them and Lucy smiled at the friendly nature of these Fairy Tail mages.

"Hey Tempus! This is Lucy. Lucy, this is my friend Tempus!" He said with a big grin as they shook hands and started to walk towards the guild in Magnolia. The trip was long, and Tempus took the advantage to talk to Lucy so he could be out of the uncomfortable "I've met you but haven't" phase.

"It feels great to be back in Magnolia, huh Natsu?" Tempus said with a big grin on his face and Natsu nodded. The trio walked past each shop, reminiscing their memories they had here and how much they missed this place for the past two years.

"How long have you guys been away?" Lucy asked them and Natsu put his hands behind his head as he walked oddly down the road towards the guild.

"Two years." He stated simply and she was at a loss of words.

"T-T-Two years!?" She yelled at him and he simply smiled back at her. "What were you guys doing!?" She asked them, too stunned to say much anything else.

"We were looking for something." Tempus answered for Natsu, who simply nodded his agreement. "We are First Generation Dragon Slayers, meaning we were raised by Dragons and we heard a rumor so we left town to search for the Dragons. They disappeared a while ago though and we haven't been able to spot one since then."

"Dragons!? You guys were raised by Dragons!? I thought they were just a myth? But you guys were actually raised by them!" She said in astonishment and they both grinned.

"We're here!" They shouted but before they entered they stopped for a second.

"I'm estimating thirty seconds." Tempus stated flatly to Natsu who responded with a time of his own.

"I'm guessing forty five seconds." Lucy looked confused as to what was happening.

"What are you guys doing?" She asked, breaking them from their stare down.

"We are betting how long the guild will stand in shock once they see us." Tempus told her and she giggled at the thought. "Ready Natsu?" Natsu nodded and they both took a deep breath before busting down the doors and grinning with arms around each other's shoulders.

"WE'RE HOME!"


	5. Chapter 5: Back to Fairy Tail Life

**A/N: Thanks for the Reviews, yet again Lewamus and now gratsulover117. **

**Gratsulover117: Thanks for thoroughly enjoying my story! It means a lot!**

**Lewamus Prime: I have most of my story already planned out for what I desire to happen so I will have to decline the OC for this story. I hope you understand, however I could use one for a future fanfiction. **

**I plan to write 10,000 word or so chapters everyday two or three days and publishing then. I am busy because of my random work schedule sometimes as well as my own military duties, so forgive me if I don't update within 2-3 days! That is my goal though!**

**As always, I do not own Fairy Tail.**

**-FTMinorz**

Everyone in the guild went quiet and nobody said anything. Forty two seconds passed before the entire guild flipped out and Tempus cursed mentally. Chairs were being thrown and tables being flipped as everybody tried to get to the two Dragon Slayers in the middle of the guild hall. Some of the members were even brought to tears at the sight of the long lost mages. Lucy stood amazing as nearly everyone in Fairy Tail was crowded around the two boys, asking them questions about where they have been and Natsu's new cloak but so much was going on that it was impossible to answer.

"I win Tempus." Natsu said with a snicker as the blonde haired mage shot him a defeated glare before laughing and enjoying the friendly guild once again.

"Quiet!" The entire guild quieted down and separated from the two boys in the middle as a man towered over anybody.

"Master! You're here!" Natsu said with a big grin on his face. Lucy's mouth dropped to the floor as she looked at the towering man.

'H-How am I supposed to request to join Fairy Tail with someone like that as Master!?' she thought to himself but much to her happiness, the man shrunk to a very tiny man. 'Uh… What?'

"I'm glad you have returned, however, you boys better watch out. Erza will be returning a few weeks." Both boys flinched and they looked scared. "Good luck!" Both boys looked as if they had melted a bit, before a girl with long white hair approached them and dragged Tempus away, while Natsu snickered and Tempus looked even worse than before.

"W-Was that, _the_ Mirajane, in the flesh?" Lucy asked to no one in particular.

"Yes, that is our Mirajane." A voice cut into her thoughts and she turned around to see the Master looking at her. "How may I help you?" He said with a bright smile.

"W-Well, I'd like to join Fairy Tail, Natsu and Tempus brought me here." She told him and he nodded his consent.

"Very well, when Mirajane gets back punishing Tempus, ask her to put the Fairy Tail mark on you!" He said with a big smile.

"Punishing Tempus? Why?" Lucy asked him but he merely chuckled and walked away leaving a confused blonde to watch Tempus leave the guild with the famous Mirajane.

Tempus was roughly let go of on the outside of the guild halls, away from prying ears. Mirajane was standing over him, glaring at the boy as she was visibly upset with him. He looked away to see if there was a means of survival and saw none so he sighed and looked back to her.

"U-Um… Hi?" He said, hoping he didn't say anything wrong. She still glared at him with that cold look and he realized it wasn't the right thing to say either.

"Where were you?" She asked him and he flinched, he wasn't expecting this question of all questions. "I know you were not hunting a Dragon. Even if you were originally, you would have returned in a few weeks; not two years." She stated simply to him and he leaned against the side of the guild, thinking about how he was going to answer. "I want the truth, Tempus." He sighed and looked back towards her to meet her gaze.

"I was training with Natsu, Mira." Mirajane didn't look as if she was surprised; instead she asked a different question.

"Why? Lisanna's death hurt all of us, but not enough to make any of us have the desire to train for two years to become stronger. It sounds more like a cover-up to me."

'Crap. How spot on could she get?' He thought to himself and Mirajane noticed his reaction to her words and she stopped interrogating as she sat next to him; eyeing him cautiously.

"It's too much to let anybody know as of right now, but you are right. It wasn't due to her death." The blonde mage stated to her. She wanted to pursue the topic but the pained look on his face was enough to let her know that she was walking on egg shells and needed to stop.

"I'm worried about you, you know…?" She told him but he shook his head and gave her a bright smile.

"Don't worry yourself too much Mira." He said as he patted her head and she gave him a puffy glare that he laughed at although she was happy to see him smile. "Let's go back Mira; Natsu hasn't seen you in a bit." She nodded and he helped her up and they walked back to the guild doors.

"Don't forget about your promise Tempus…" She told him and he chuckled.

"Don't worry Mira; I don't plan on breaking it." He gave her a grin and she couldn't help but smile back as she followed him through the guild doors. As they opened them they saw the guild was in a brawl and Tempus looked defeated.

"Oh dear." Mirajane stated with her mouth to her hand, she looked at Tempus who hung his head in shame. She found his look cute and giggled at her comrade's miserable look.

"Lucy!" He shouted and the blonde, who was not participating, ran over to him and Mirajane. "Lucy, Mirajane; Mirajane, Lucy. Lucy would like to join the guild; can you get her set up?" Mirajane nodded and told Lucy to follow her as they moved their way through the carnage to get up to the bar to get her a Fairy Tail mark, but before they made it all the way to the counter, a big man with the same color hair as Mirajane was thrown into her, affectively knocking her out.

"Mirajane! Oh boy, what do I do?" Lucy was worried for her but she looked happy despite being unconscious.

"You guys are so annoying. You are so loud, quiet up would you." A girl with long brown hair said as she took out a card and a magic circle formed.

"Oh? Who said?" Another mage without any clothes said as he but his fist in his palm and an icy steam started to formulate around his hands.

"You people are getting on my nerves." A third mage said as he twisted his ring and magic flowed from him.

"Graaaaaah! This is a man's fight!" A fourth mage yelled turning his arm into stone.

"Yosh! I'm all fired up now!" Natsu yelled, catching his hands on fire as they were about to start brawling with magic.

"Would you brats stop!?" A booming voice was heard over everybody and the Master towered above them once more. Each individual in the guild stopped fighting and looked up at the guild master; well, all but one lone pink haired mage.

"You guys are bunch of wimps! I guess this is my wi-"Natsu laughed triumphantly until he was squished by the Master's shoe. The master then shrunk to his original size and looked around the quiet guild and gave a loud huff before jumping to the top floor railing. His back hit the top of the railing and he awkwardly stood up on the rail and gave a loud cough to clear his throat.

"You brats have done it again! Do you see this amount of paperwork I have to do? The council members and furious at us but I say, ignore them! We are Fairy Tail! Do what you think is right in your heart!" He shouted and put his hand up with his index finger and his thumb pointing away from his hand and the other three fingers clenched into his palm. Everybody in the guild laughed and did the same thing to match with their Guild Master.

"Natsu!" A high pitched sound came from the left side of the guild and a blue cat flew high speeds into Natsu's arms, tears flowing freely from its cheeks.

"Hey buddy!" Natsu said to him with a big smile on his face as the cat was gripping onto Natsu's cloak. "How have you been Happy!?" He asked the cat with excitement, as he hasn't seen his partner in a long time.

"You left me Natsu! Where did you go?" Natsu continued to give the cat his signature grin and the cat managed to cheer up from that alone.

"Don't worry buddy! I'll catch you a big fish later to make it up to you!" The cat visibly cheered up and started flying in circles, happy to be getting fish. "Let's go on a mission buddy! It's been a while!" Happy nodded and flew over to the bulletin board with the requests posted on them. As he was looking at them, Lucy came up behind him to show him the mark she just received from Mirajane.

"Hey Natsu! Look! I'm now a Fairy Tail member!" Lucy yelled as she showed off her pink guild insignia on her right hand.

"That's great Lucy!" He said to her but then he overheard a young boy complaining to the Master and it jogged his remember to what was about to happen. He looked at the boy who was near to tears as he was talking to the Master.

"Can't somebody go after him!?" He yelled at the Master who brushed him off, rather coldly. "He said he'd be gone for only three days but he has been gone for over a week now!"

"Romeo! That is enough. Macao is a Fairy Tail wizard and he can take care of himself! There is not a single mage in this guild that cannot!" He scolded the young wizard and Romeo punched him in the face while calling him a jerk before storming out of the guild.

"Hey Natsu! You nearly broke the board in half!" The board watcher, Nab, yelled at him as the request he took was now inside of the request board and as he grabbed his gear and followed Romeo out of the guild. Nab walked over next to the Master.

"Shouldn't we stop him; he is just going to end up damage Macao's pride." Makarov shook his head as he watched the pink haired boy leave.

"Remember Nab, we cannot choose another's path, leave him be." Makarov stated simply to Nab who merely shrugged and walked back to the request board. Lucy was sitting at the bar with Mirajane, Tempus and Elfman as she watched Natsu walk out.

"Why did Natsu get so upset?" Lucy asked to them while watching him walk away. Mirajane was the first to speak as Tempus listened in to what she was saying.

"It's probably because he and Romeo have a lot in come. He sees himself in Romeo. Just because we are Fairy Tail wizards, it doesn't mean we don't have our own personal issues. We've all had our fair share of suffering and lost." With the last statement Tempus stood up and walked out of the guild, knowing he did not want to talk about his own problems. Lucy caught Mirajane watching Tempus with a saddened look on her face as he walked out.

"What's wrong with him Mira?" She shook her head, which made even Elfman confused.

"I cannot say." She stated as she watched him disappear from view behind the guild doors before she let out a small sigh. "Many years ago, Natsu's and Tempus' father and mother left and never came back. Well it wasn't their real parents, but it was the one who raised them. You see, they were raised by Dragons!" She said bashfully but was surprised to see Lucy wasn't jumping out of her seat at the truth behind the two boys.

"They told me on the way here that they were raised by Dragons," She explained the Mirajane who nodded, feeling upset she missed the blonde's initial reaction but smiled anyhow, "I guess it is true though. I take it Natsu is a Fire Dragon Slayer, but what about Tempus?" She asked Mirajane who frowned slightly at the question, as she also had trouble understanding what powers the blonde dragon slayer possessed.

"I can't say for sure. Most say he uses a form of lightning as his powers but I have heard rumors that some spotted him using other elements. I believe if you want to know his actual magical power, you're best bet would probably to ask the Master but he has never told anybody Tempus' magical power so the best bet is to ask him directly. The other option is Erza, who use to take him on missions before he left, claiming he was an extremely powerful wizard, but she ignores those who ask about his magic, so she will never say it. Most people are afraid to ask him directly though, he participates in the brawls but he never uses magic during them and steps out when magic becomes involved, he is one of the guild's mysteries." She said with a wink and chuckled lightly to herself as Lucy pained a mental picture of the blonde mage standing with his back turned to everyone and with his signature hooded cloak but with a mysterious aura that matched the color of his robes.

"A real man never gives out his secrets!" He valiantly declared making both girls laugh before Lucy excused herself from the bar so she could catch up to Natsu. Mirajane asked if Elfman could watch the bar so she could go check on the blonde mage but he declared he would go check on him and he rushed out the guild before she could protest. She sighed and silently thanked her younger brother as she went back to attending some of the other members.

…

"Why are you here again?" Natsu asked Lucy as he was lying on the bench in the cart, trying to quell his motion sickness. 'It would be great if Mavis had a permanent Troia, not a five hour one. It would also be great if they let us keep the whole 'talk in the mind' thing.' He thought as he tried to keep his insides inside.

"I thought I should tag along to help you!" She said happily as he groaned after they hit a bump on the road. "The motion sickness really is serious huh? Just another reason to feel sorry for you." She said.

"What!?" He said angrily before hitting another bump, affectively incapacitating him and Lucy giggled at him. The cart suddenly stopped and his eyes shot opened and he jumped up, obviously thrilled the cart stopped. "I'm revived!" He yelled, over exaggerating the moment before opening the back to show they were out in a giant blizzard.

"W-What!?" Lucy yelled at the sudden image that surprised her. "W-Why are we here!?" she shouted to Natsu who jumped out of the cart.

"Macao is here so we are here to save him." He told her and she hesitated before stepping out with him. The duo ended up traveling up the mountain to find Macao who was tasked with the job of destroying twenty of the Vulcans who lived here. Lucy ended up summoning one of her spirits, the clock spirit, Horologium and hiding in it for the remainder of the trip.

As they were walking up the mountain a big monkey came from nowhere and attacked Natsu, who dodged, before scooping the clock with Lucy in it and running towards its cave where it could hold its trophy. Lucy was scared and hiding in Horologium, wondering how she got into the mess. Horologium disappeared, leaving Lucy alone on the floor in front of the big ape-like creature.

"W-Why did you have to leave now!?" She yelled out as the monkey was eyeing her down and she shivered and backed up a little bit.

"Take this you big fat ape!" Natsu yelled, and before either knew what was happening, Natsu came soaring in and hitting the monkey straight in the jaw sending it into the wall of the cave. A bright light escaped from the ape to show an injured man lying where the ape once was.

"A-A man!?" Lucy shouted, surprised at the sudden turn of events as Happy looked shocked.

"Macao!" Natsu yelled.

"You mean that monkey was your friend!?" Lucy questioned, astonished that something like that could happen.

"Vulcans are evil creatures that thrive off a human host." Happy explained to Lucy who simply nodded, down founded. Natsu laid the older man down on the blanket he had with and bandaged him up as he waited for the man to wake. Not long after the bandages were on did Macao awake and he looked around him.

"Hey Macao! Your boy misses you, you know?" Macao looked at the location of the voice and saw the pink haired mage. His eyes got wide, as he was not expecting to see Natsu.

"N-Natsu?" He managed to get out.

"The one and only!" Natsu said with a big grin on his face. "Now let's get you up, we have plenty of time to talk on the way home." He said to him as he nodded and let himself lean on Natsu as they made their way back to the Fairy Tail guild.

…

"Hey Tempus! You around here!?" Elfman shouted out in the woods.

"Up here." He looked up and saw Tempus sitting on a branch in the tree about five meters up; one knee was up and his left arm was resting on it. His blonde hair was still just as mangled as he remembered back when he originally left. The blonde mage slid off the branch and landed solidly on the ground next to Elfman; his cloak falling around him. "You need something?"

"Not really, just thought we could talk. It has been a while, in case you've forgotten." Elfman laughed at him and he smiled his acknowledgement as he and Elfman walked down the trail that led towards the guild.

"What'd you want to talk about?" Tempus asked him and he stiffened slightly before looking at him.

"I heard Mira-nee talking about the mystery behind your magical powers; nobody knows it so I was curious on why you don't tell anyone about them?" He asked him and Tempus seemed to have pondered this question, as it took him a while to answer.

"My magical powers are nothing special, I'm usually not asked what my powers are but I'm thankful I'm not hassled either." He stated rationally. "I use white lightning." He told Elfman, it was part of the truth so he technically wasn't lying.

"That's what I thought you used," Elfman replied, "But I heard Mira-nee say that she heard rumors you had mastery of multiple elements." He stated to him. Tempus at first didn't respond, which caused Elfman to look at him suspiciously.

"That sounds preposterous." Tempus stated to him and he chuckled half-heartedly. "I have heard of people being able to use two to three, but it takes a large amount of magical power. But multiple is a hard feat to accomplish." He said, feeling bad about himself. 'Sorry Elfman, I need to keep it a secret as long as I can. I would prefer if people did not know of my magical abilities for now.' Elfman roared with laughter, shaking the smaller mage visibly.

"I guess that is right! Well, Mira-nee is worried about you; a real man would go tell her he is ok!" He said and Tempus laughed with him before he nodded his acknowledgement.

"I'm off Elfman, I'll go see Mira!" He said before he ran ahead of Elfman leaving a smiling Elfman. Elfman watched the boy disappear over the horizon before he started to walk towards the guild himself.

Natsu had already made it back to the guild with Lucy after dropping off Macao with his son, Romeo. He was arguing with Gray as the two people he helped returned as well as Tempus and Elfman. Lucy was talking with Mirajane while Tempus was watching everybody from the support beams at the top of the guild.

"What's wrong with him?" Lucy asked, as she was put off by Loke's sudden reaction to him finding out she was a Celestial Wizard.

"Loke has a problem with Celestial Wizards." Mirajane answered for her. "Rumor has it that he had trouble with a girl a long time ago."

"I'm not surprised, he's—"Before Lucy had a chance to finish what she started, a pink haired mage flew by and knocked her over by accident.

"Oh, my." Mirajane said as she watched her two friends fall to the ground.

"Knock it off, you two." Lucy said in a huffed tone as Natsu was lying on top of her back while Gray was standing a few feet away with his arm up.

"He picked a fight with me; I can't turn down his offer." Gray said simply as Natsu stood back up.

"Oh? You're the one who started it, ice princess." Natsu said with a menacing glare that Gray returned whole heartedly.

"What exactly did I start, matchstick?" They were, again, butting heads with each other while calling each other names and staring each other down. Suddenly the door bust open with Loke breathing heavily.

"This is bad! Erza, she's come back!" He yelled and everybody froze but Natsu and Tempus looked dreadfully terrified. Tempus froze and fell off the beam and onto the wooden floor with a loud crunching sound. Natsu tried to run out the back door but was grabbed by Mirajane who gave him a smile with a menacing glare hidden beneath.

"Elfman! Secure Natsu and make sure he doesn't escape. I don't want to be the one to explain to Erza that the two boys she has wanted for so long ran away as she was coming back." She said with a big smile and Elfman immediately secured Natsu; apparently not wanted to be on that side of the card as well, while Mirajane sat next to Tempus, who was still dazed from the fall.

"Erza?" Lucy asked as she was unsure of who this person was, but has only heard stories of the mage. Soon enough, however, a red haired mage walked in to see everybody crowded around an area.

"What is going on!?" Erza yelled, making them all flinch and instantly part ways to show three men holding Natsu down, all four now frozen in shock before letting him go and jumping away to avoid collateral damage. Erza's eyes widened as she saw the pink haired mage and immediately looked around the guild to find the comrade he disappeared with. She found Mirajane looking down at her feet and saw the blonde mage lying on his back in a small deformity in the ground. She walked to Natsu and grabbed him by the color and dragged him to where Tempus was lying before roughly dropping him next to the blonde haired mage before she hugged them both. "It's been too long you two." She said softly to them before standing up and looking at Gray, who flinched under her sight.

"You two will receive a punishment for leaving later, but for now I have a favor to ask the three of you. I heard something bad while on my last job. Normally, I would consult the master first over matters like these but he is not here and I believe this to be a matter of the utmost urgency. I want your help, will you come with me? We leave tomorrow so be ready." She told them while everybody was in shock from what the red haired mage asked.

"I never imagined it before," Mirajane started, "Natsu, Gray, Tempus and Erza. This may very well be the strongest team ever created in Fairy Tail." Lucy stared at awe at the four members of the group.

…

"Why do I have to team up with you!?" Natsu asked Gray as the two of them but had a look of extreme disappointment and resentment towards the other. Tempus sighed loudly, also not being too thrilled about this but for totally different reasons.

'Doesn't that idiot know this was going to happen?' Tempus thought to himself as he looked at the two men who were now locked in a stare down battle.

"That's my line matchstick! If Erza needs help, I'm more than enough!" Gray responded to Natsu as Tempus sat next to Lucy, both feeling as if they wanted to crawl in a hole.

"Then go by yourself! I don't wanna go!" Natsu yelled back to him as they gave each other menacing glares.

"Then don't go! And let Erza beat you senseless later!" Gray responded.

"Why are you here Lucy?" Happy, the blue cat, asked her as she was still pretending as if she had no idea who the two boys in front of her were.

"It's because of Mira… she wanted me to stop their fighting while Erza wasn't looking." She told it.

"You aren't stopping them, though."

"I know, but…" Lucy started but was interrupted as the final guest showed up.

"I'm sorry, did I keep you waiting?" Both boys instantly stopped their bickering and pretending to be comrades while Lucy stood in awe at Erza's amount of sheer luggage.

"Let's be best friends like usual!" Gray commented as the two boys had their arms wrapped around each other's shoulder.

"Aye, sir!" Natsu added to the comment, both acting overly enthused.

"Yes, it's important to be on good terms." Erza started as she looked at the two boys with a light smile on her face before turning to Lucy. "So, who are you? Didn't I see you at the guild yesterday?" Lucy nodded.

"I'm Lucy! Mirajane asked me to come with you too. It's nice to meet you!" Lucy told her while holding on to her celestial spirit.

"I'm Erza, it's a pleasure. So you're Lucy? The one who defeated a mercenary gorilla with just your finger?" Lucy was shocked from the rumor Erza had heard about her. "It'll be wonderful to have you on board. Thanks for your help and Tempus, I take it you are ready to go?" He nodded his consent and she smiled, glad to see him back.

"T-That's not what happened…" Lucy said weakly but wasn't heard from the red haired mage in front of her.

"Erza. I'll come along but on one condition." Natsu started and Gray looked surprised; however, Tempus did not. He simply smirked at the question that was about to come out of Natsu's mouth.

"Fight me once we get back!" Natsu told her with a big grin on his determined face.

"Oi!" Gray started and placed a hand on his comrade's shoulder. "Don't get hasty; do you have a death wish? You just got back to the guild!"

"Things are different now! I can beat you now!" Natsu said while staring at Erza who simply smiled softly at her comrade's aggressive nature. She looked at Tempus who was now looking upon the current situation with amusement.

"I feel as if I'm at a disadvantage, but all right. I accept your challenge, Natsu." Erza told him and he immediately jumped with delight.

"Alright! I'm all fired up now!" He yelled with enthusiasm and Tempus snickered.

"Let's get on the train now." Erza told her comrades and both Tempus and Natsu looked defeated, before they even got on the train. "Let's go boys." She stated to them and cracked her knuckles making both boys rush onto the train.

"Blegh…" Both boys said as they leaned back in the seat. Gray sat next to the two while they two girls had the other seat for themselves.

"You two are pathetic. Been gone for two years and you are still just as lame as before." Both boys groaned their disproval at his statement but couldn't say much else.

"It must terrible to go through this every time…" Lucy thought out loud to those around her and Erza smiled softly.

"Move Gray," she stated to him and he obliged and switched seats with her. Erza slide Tempus to the window and sat in between Natsu and him. "Just relax you two." She told them.

"Aye." They said weakly before being roughly punched and affectively knocked out as they fell onto either side of her lap; leaving Lucy speechless while Gray pretended he didn't see a thing.

"There. That should be better for those two." She stated to no one in particular.

"Erza, isn't it about time you fill us in? What exactly are we doing?" Gray asked her, obviously ignoring what just happened to the two mages.

"Right. We are going against the Eisenwald Dark Guild. They plan to use a magic called Lullaby for something big. I do not have the details of what they plan to do with it but it cannot be good, so that is why I brought you all together. I do not believe I can take on an entire guild by myself, which is why I asked you for your help." Gray nodded his acknowledgement and got up as the train stopped to leave the train. The team got off the train and started walking down the station talking about the Dark Guild.

"Huh? Where is Natsu?" Happy asked causing the four members of the team to stop and realize they forgot him on the train.

"I was so absorbed in our conversation that I forgot him on the train." Erza said sullenly. "I can't believe myself! He's terrible at riding vehicles too! This is my fault, please hit me." Erza stated to the other three members who looked confused about the last part and defeated at the idea of hitting her.

…

"Ugh…" Natsu thought to himself as he lied on the seat, with his right arm hanging out of his cloaking.

"Oh? A legitimate guild wizard?" A voice pierced the silence and he made an ugly face as he remembered the owner behind it. He looked up and saw a man wearing a plain high collar white t-shirt over a plain dark red undershirt. He also wore a dark blue pair of pants, black shoes and black earrings. He has black eyes and his black hair is tied up in a ponytail messily. "Do you know what we call you guys? We call you flies." He said to Natsu as he kicked him in the face, obviously ticking the pink haired mage off.

"Why you!" Natsu stood up suddenly and caught his hands on fire but the train immediately hit a bump afterwards causing him to lose the magic in his arms and felt sick instantly.

"You call that magic?" The mage said to Natsu, sneering as he sent his shadows to attack Natsu. The attack landed knocking Natsu on his back, but, much to his opponent's dismay a flute fell out his pocket as Natsu stood up.

'Lullaby!' He thought to himself and before the other mage could recover he jumped him. "**Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!**" He yelled and knocked the other man unconscious. "Bye-Bye Kageyama! Thanks for the flute!" He said with a big grin before jumping out with window as the train started back up again; only to find himself face-to-face with Gray on the roof of a car. Their foreheads collided as Erza hastily stopped the machine as both boys fell onto the earth.

"Natsu, are you ok!?" Erza asked him as Tempus and Lucy came out from the cart, Tempus looking ill.

"Yeah I'm ok, I got this thing though. Also, that station that the train is going to, we need to get there fast. The guy who attacked me told me of Eisenwald and they are waiting for him there!" Natsu told her and her eyes widened, both at the realization of him being attacked, and that the whole guild was at the next station. Before she got to get everybody ready to move though, Tempus spoke up.

"I'll go." He stated simply as he walked a little distance from his comrades and interlaced his fingers in front of him and focused his magical energy. Lucy looked at him and tried to memorize his every detail, to see his kind of magic, as she had known it wasn't very known at all. However, much to her dismay, the blonde mage took a deep breath before he vanished into thin air as if he was never standing there at all.

"Dang it Tempus." Erza said out loud, earning her a few questioning glances from the other three. "Truth is, I've never actually seen his magic." She stated as she shrugged lightly making Natsu chuckle.

"What's so funny matchstick?" Gray asked him, obviously trying to get at the pink mage.

"I thought at least Erza has also seen his magic, but I guess that wasn't the case ice princess." He stated coldly to the ice mage who gave him a glare at the tone of his voice.

"You've seen his magic, Natsu?" Erza stated to him and he nodded to her, the sudden change in Erza was shocking to everyone. She immediately ran up to Natsu and held his hands in between hers as she stared at him with vivid anticipation, her eyes sparkling. "W-What is his magic?" Natsu was too thrown off to speak, as were the rest of the members.

"What is it, Natsu?" Lucy asked as Erza violently nodded her head and even Gray was interested.

"I can't say… You'd have to ask him yourself." He said sullenly and was instantly frightened as he saw Erza's joyful expression turn dark and menacing. She stood up and towered over Natsu, a menacing aura surrounded her as she stared at the pink haired mage.

"I didn't realize I had asked a question." She said coldly as she re-quipped a sword into her hand. "Gray, trap him." Gray nodded and trapped Natsu in ice. Tell me Tempus' magical power and I'll let you out of your later punishment, or I will have your head now." Natsu gulped down hard as he tried to quickly think of a way out.

…

"The train is here Erigor." A man spoke as a man with silver hair smirked at the oncoming train. He had a lean muscular build and his hair is held pointing upwards in spikey strands on top of his head but hangs down the left side of his face in a distinctive manner. His eyes are dark with tattoos underneath and an elongated face. His upper body is similarly tattooed and he wears worn clothes to represent his reputation as the grim reaper.

"Perfect." He stated simply but was caught off by another voice piercing the sky.

"Wow. All of you are here huh?" All of Eisenwald looked around until one spotted somebody above them; they looked up to see a lone blonde mage sitting on a railing above the tracks. His cloak flowing to the side to show a Fairy Tail mark that was white on his right shoulder. Erigor snickered; he was not expecting a legitimate guild to interfere, but the more the merrier in his point of view.

"Handle him." He waved his hand to the side as three of his members went to go handle Tempus. Tempus stared at the running men as they approached the railing he was sitting upon. One jumped up to him and he fell backwards and swung his body around the railing and nailed the first assailant in the stomach with a well-placed kick. The first fell to the ground with a large thud, as the fall knocked him out. The next two charged together and raised their weapons to strike down their opponent but Tempus quickly stepped forward and grabbed them by their faces and roughly slammed their bodies down into the ground causing the wooden floorboards beneath to break under the pressure.

"Thanks for the warm-up." Tempus said to Erigor as he yawned, sending Erigor over the edge.

"Attack him; make him regret ever crossing us and looking down on us." Tempus smiled as he looked at his multiple opponents starting to run towards him. He looked to his side, at the train that was nearly approaching and decided to end this fast before collateral damage to the train could be concocted. Tempus put his palms onto the floorboards in front of him before chanting his spell.

"**Sacred Art No. 2: Mountain of Glass**." He whispered to himself before smirking as he looked up and every one of his opponents was trapped in the ice, unable to move their bodies. Erigor was trapped in the ice as well and was trying to get out. "Don't bother trying to use magic." Tempus stated to him. "This ice blocks the usage of your magic and movements unless instructed to by me. The ice started to melt as each and every member came out of the ice with a pair of cuffs made from ice was on their hands. "The police are on their way." Erigor glared at him.

"I will not forget this, Tempus of Fairy Tail. I will be back to destroy you." He told him and Tempus merely nodded without losing his composure before walking away to leave the group to the coming police.

…

"Yo?" Tempus said as he saw Natsu was underneath Erza's foot and both Gray and Lucy were helping her, ready to strike at the pink haired magic, all three looking surprised to see the blonde mage. "U-Um… what is going on here?" Tempus asked a little unnerved at the scene before him and the three composed themselves quickly before Erza coughed slightly.

"We were teaching Natsu the basics of teamwork!" Erza lied through her teeth and the other two nodded their agreement while Natsu deflated like a balloon. Tempus felt a tug on his cloak as he looked down to see a young girl, about five years of age, holding a flower. The other three conscious comrades looked at Tempus with confusion as Tempus, too, looked confused.

"Thank you ice person!" The little girl said to Tempus, making him visibly flinch, before handing him the flower and running back to the town. Tempus had hoped that the words spoken by the little girl was misinterpreted by the other mages but the look on their faces was enough to show him that didn't misinterpret what was just said.

"I-Ice?" Gray asked Tempus who stood there trying to figure a way out of this.

"Y-Y-Yeah, I guess I acted a little cold to our enemies when I approached them." He said as he weakly shrugged, trying to get them to change the topic to the battle he just had instead of his magical prowess.

"Tempus." He flinched and looked at Erza, who was now having a menacing aura as she was looking down. "Did you use ice magic?" She asked bluntly and he flinched but shook his head vigorously.

"L-Let's help, Natsu." He quickly walked past the trio and picked Natsu up over his arms and walked towards the car so he could have Natsu transported back to Magnolia, while the three followed them, choosing to question him later. Erza got onto the front seat so she could drive them back to Magnolia before dropping off the machine herself. While in the cart Tempus took Lullaby and flooded his Pure Magic into it shattering the Demon's Soul that resides within the flute as he carefully set it back down, now confident this job is over but was rudely interrupted by the cart moving as he fell over onto his side while the cart made its way back to Magnolia.

Erza roughly pulled the two out of the cart once they made it back to the guild before driving away with the machine to give it back to its original owner. Natsu and Tempus groaned as they stood up and rubbed their own heads. Gray looked at the two of them with mild disappointment while Lucy looked sorry for them but they brushed it aside and entered the guild anyway.

"Welcome back!" Mirajane called to the four mages entering the guild with a big wave and a smile. "You have mail Tempus." She said rather coldly to him and he didn't understand why she was acting that way towards him but he simply nodded and went up to her only to be handed a letter that was bright pink with a heart sticker in the middle. Gray and Natsu couldn't contain their hysterical laughter while Lucy was in awe at the letter. Tempus looked back up to Mirajane who was already angrily stomping off and he put his head down in defeat before deciding to open the letter.

"Read it out loud Tempus!" Gray shouted as this brought most of the guild's attention to the trio standing in front of the bar. Tempus was not amused but he complied anyway.

"_Dear Tempy." _He started and was already drowned out from laughter the entire guild started at the nickname of him they had just heard. "Oi! If you want to hear it, be quiet!" He yelled and everyone slowly went silent, anticipation sparkling in their eyes as they waiting to hear the rest of the letter but before he got to continue, the owner of the letter's voice broke through.

"_Hi! I see that you are reading this out loud so I decided to speak for you"_ The cute voice started and the entire guild nearly fell, face first onto the floor from the shock delivered by the letter. "_As you know, the th—"A_ crashing sound was heard and arguing on the other side of the letter before the voice came back to talk. "Ahem, _The Master told you not to show any of your magical powers to the guild and those around you. However, me and this wonderful guy right here," _She said the last part with venom as Tempus could only imagined he is the one who caused the crashing sound by tackling her or something of that nature. "_Have thought about it and decided it would be best to show your magical power during the date of __**Phantasma Domini impetus.**__ Good luck Tempy! We miss you and Natsy! I'll be watching you! Love M.M"_ Tempus looked as if he wanted to go hide in a hole.

"Oi! Don't go starting misunderstandings!" Tempus started to shout as he heard the voice giggle before going silent. Tempus looked dreadful and the rest of the guild was barely containing their laughter. Natsu looked a little surprise at the nickname given to him but shook it off.

"Hey, Tempy!" Gray shouted and everybody started laughing, unable to contain it any longer. Tempus just slouched onto a stool defeated for the rest of the day. "Who was that anyway?"

"My old friend, she is like this." He said holding up the pink letter. "She likes to be mischievous and it caused a ton of problems for me when I was around her." Lucy was giggling and wiped a tear from her face, much to her friend's dismay.

"She sounds more like a lover, Temp." Natsu said through fits of laughter, although he knew who she was. Tempus glared at him as the entire guild was roaring with laughter.

"I'll be back." He stated simply before getting up and walking away, tucking the letter into his cloak. 'Mavis… you knew exactly what was happening, didn't you?' he thought to himself as he imagined the blonde girl watching him with an evil glint in her eyes. He was walking through the town and bumped straight into someone, he looked down at the girl who fell and noticed it was Mirajane.

"O-Oh, sorry Tempus." She stated to him as he helped her up.

"You alright?" He asked her as she stared at him incredulously before nodding her head.

"W-What was the letter about?" She asked him, her eyes filled with worry, for reasons he could not see very well. He sighed and his expression turned into complete disappointment making her giggle slightly.

"My old master from when I left for two years to train sent it to me. She is very mischievous and likes to cause problems for me. If you ever meet her, you'll understand what I am talking about." She nodded her head, her disapproval now completely gone from her face. "We should head back now," He chuckled as he looked back at the guild. "Erza should be fighting Natsu soon." Mirajane perked up at the notice of Erza and Natsu fighting and nodded before following Tempus through the town towards the guild.

As they approached the guild, a small mob had already formed outside of the guild filled with the guild's members. Tempus figured they were surrounding the center where Erza and Natsu stood. He looked at the group and noticed that it was too hard for them to squeeze through so he picked Mirajane up, without her permission of course, and jumped to the first layer of the guild building so they could look down upon the fight. Mirajane tapped him on the head lightly for moving her without warning her but easily forgave him for it.

"Are you ready Erza!?" Erza paused for a moment before she re-quipped into her flame empress armor before nodding.

"Flame Empress? Are you serious?" Members of the guild started to question Natsu's ability to win and even his comrade, Happy, placed a bet on Erza once he saw the armor come out.

"That will halve his ability to do damage with flames, isn't that going a bit overboard?" A guild member said out loud to add to the skepticism of the already bleak looking fight for Natsu.

"I don't like stuff like this!" Lucy yelled, "I don't want either to lose!"

"You're surprisingly pure-hearted." Gray remarked. Natsu stared down Erza before smiling to himself.

"Yosh! Flame empress armor! That's perfect! That means I can fight without hesitation!" He yelled confidently, causing Mirajane to look to Tempus with a look of worry for the pink haired mage. Tempus merely chuckled at her worry.

"Just watch." He said to her and she nodded and brought her eyes upon the two fighting below her.

"Begin." Makarov stated to the two fighters. Natsu charged first and brought his right arm towards Erza and she brought her sword up to block it but much to her dismay she was still sent into a nearby home as the crowd broke, fearful they as well would be hit as collateral by the flying red mage. Everybody, however, was completely stunned, nobody caught what happened and was surprised to see the pink haired mage deliver such a blow. Erza charged through the smoke cloud at Natsu, her weapon swinging down on him as he blocked it with one of his hands.

"I have never seen that before Natsu. Transforming your arm into fire right when our strikes were to collide, then solidifying the strike as it passed my defenses. That was a good strike." She stated to him simply and he smiled before bringing his left leg up to kick her across the face but she re-quipped into The Giant's Armor and throwing Natsu into the same house he threw her a moment ago like a ragdoll. Natsu though, was already recovered and moving towards her before she had a chance to even react after the throw she made. Using his fists as thrusters he jumped from the smoke cloud and brought his left leg down towards her chin but she managed to dodge it by re-quipping to her Flight Armor.

Natsu jumped backwards before her speed got to him, she instantly charged him and he closed his eyes for a moment. Tempus smirked, knowing the battle was all but over with this next move Natsu is going to pull. Natsu's eyes opened; his eyes now a brilliant crimson as crimson flames flooded from his body as a giant pillar of fire formed around him as he released his magical power. Each burst of the magical power caused the crater around him to become larger as he stared down Erza with a much more serious look in his eyes. Erza was frozen in shock before the power her friend now possessed. Natsu's cloak and scarf was rising towards the sky due to the immense magical power he was releasing while the clothes of everyone else were blowing away from him.

"W-W-What is this?" Mirajane asked to Tempus who was merely watching with a serious tone.

"This is the result of Natsu's two year training. His power has increased tremendously during that time period." Tempus told her as she was nervous just to think about the pink haired mage in front of her. The Natsu she knew was no longer in those eyes of his, those eyes showed a tremendous pain and determination to get through it.

'H-H-He rivals the magical power of Gildarts!' Makarov thought as he watched his child continuously flood the air with the tremendous magical power. Erza fell to one knee, her body sweating nervously and her eyes wide open as the magical power faded to show Natsu standing in the middle of a small crater with a big grin on his face and one hand behind his heads.

'N-Natsu, you have grown on such a tremendous level.' Erza thought to herself as she was still staring at the ground, her body showing off the fear she just went through. She felt a palm rest on her shoulder and she looked up to see Natsu smiling at her; which reassured her and she started to feel the fear alleviate.

"W-What was that, Matchstick!?" Gray voiced everyone's opinions as he too, was shaken by the incident.

"That was about thirty percent of my total power, why do you ask?" Everybody looked at the pink haired mage with shock.

"T-T-Thirty Percent!?" They cried out in surprise as he simply rubbed the back of his head.

"I guess Natsu is the winner." Makarov stated as Natsu pumped his fist into the air, a big smile etched upon his childish face, making most forget the look in his eyes a moment ago and cheered him on. 'How much did those two grow? I can only imagine with Tempus' magic he can rival this sheer magical power. I have never seen anything like it, and only thirty percent… Those boys are not telling me something.' Makarov thought as he looked for and found the blonde mage sitting on the roof with Mirajane. The two laughing and chatting amongst each other. 'But I will let it go for now, they should enjoy their current moments while they last.'

"We can fight again sometime!" Natsu told Erza who smiled up at him and nodded her head.

"Next time I won't lose though Natsu! So be prepared!" He grinned at Erza as he helped her up and nodded.

"I hope you keep your word Erza!" He stated to her before walking over to Gray and Lucy. "How was that guys!" Lucy was the first to speak as his rival was still too much in shock.

"T-That was awesome! You are really powerful Natsu!" She stated with a big grin on her face that he matched with one of his own. Erza joined them and started talking to them as well as the guild made their back into the building. The guild was laughing and having fun at the eccentric atmosphere. Tempus was back up in the rafters enjoying the sight. Erza was enjoying a cup of tea while Natsu, Gray, Lucy and Elfman all sat a different table laughing and talking amongst each other. Makarov was at his normal post, sitting on the bar while Mirajane stood behind the bar smiling at the livelihood of the guild. Makarov slightly flinched as Mirajane looked at him with worry.

"What's the matter, Master?"

"Oh, I'm… Sleepy… He's here." Makarov stated to the white haired mage, and as if the words had a spell on them, the entire guild started to peel over. Mirajane started to fall but before she could fall all the way Tempus appeared behind her in a fraction of a second and placed his hands on her shoulders to keep her from falling. The entire guild was left out cold except Natsu, Makarov and Tempus who stared at the newcomer as he came in from the front doors.

"Mystogan." Makarov stated, void of emotion as the cloaked mage came in. He wears a dark blue cloak and his arms and legs are covered mostly in bandages. He wore a dark blue bandana with a silver forehead protector and a green mask that obscured the bottom half of his face. He had multiple staves on his back that was held together by a green strap and his pants were abnormally large around his thighs.

The man grabbed a request off the bulletin and made his way over to Makarov. He saw Tempus and Natsu standing, without any side effects of his sleep magic, surprising him greatly.

"Yo!" Natsu said to him with a big grin on his face. Makarov looked at the two boys standing on either side of him, just now noticing the two were awake.

"I'm surprised you two are awake." Mystogan said the two boys who merely shrugged and gave him a light smile. Tempus was still holding onto Mirajane as he showed Mystogan the body he was holding to urge him to hurry up so he can wake up everybody yet again. "My apologies." He stated as he showed the guild master the quest he would be taken before leaving who simply nodded his approval. "Five… Four… Three… Two… One." Mystogan counted down before as he left the guild and everybody instantly regained consciousness.

"Th…This feeling… Was it Mystogan?" A member said out loud as each member tried to regain their senses.

"His sleep magic is as powerful as ever." Another member commented as he rubbed his head, each member complaining about Mystogan in their own way.

"Ugh… What happened?" Mirajane asked as she looked around her to find two hands holding her up.

"Mystogan showed up." She looked up and saw Tempus looking out the door that Mystogan just left through.

"T-Tempus…" She said quietly and he smiled softly at her before letting her go to regain her balance, her face now flustered.

"Mystogan?" Lucy asked to those around her.

"Another mage in contest for strongest man in Fairy Tail." Elfman answered for her, his exhaustion evident on his face.

"For whatever reason, he doesn't want anyone to see his face. So he puts everybody to sleep like this every time he takes a job." Gray added and Elfman nodded.

"Are you serious? That's way too suspicious!" She cried out in an exasperated tone, worried that a man like that was in the guild.

"So no one but our master knows what he looks like." Gray said with a serious expression written all over his face.

"No. I do." Gray stopped what he was doing to look at the direction the voice came from. The man snickered, his eyes looking wild. He had blonde hair spiked up and a scar shaped as a lightning bolt across his right eye. He was a very tall and muscular man with blue eyes. He wore headphones with spikes on either end and a leopard print orange tunic with dark lined sleeves reaching down around his wrists with fur on the lower edges. He also wore red slacks and a little machine on his waist that the headphones were connected too and a black coat with spikey fur trimming around the neck and sleeve edges, draped over her shoulders like a cape.

"Laxus! You're here!?" Makarov stated to the man standing above them.

"Another candidate for the strongest member." Gray told Lucy, who was surprised to see another strong member in front of her.

"Mystogan is shy. Don't get too nosy." Laxus told them all with a sadistic grin. Natsu eyed him with strong displeasure. "Oh? It looks like the two Dragon Slayers, _raised by Dragons_, have returned." Laxus said without having his sadistic grin slip.

"You upset you ended up with your Dragon Slayer power from a Lacrima, Laxus?" Laxus stopped looking at Natsu and met Tempus' stare, Makarov was shocked that Tempus knew. Laxus' grin fell for a moment, as he too, was surprised that somebody knew about his past. Mirajane watched Tempus as she saw his friendly look was turned cold, something she has personally never seen from the blonde mage.

"Oh? The boy who has more mystery to him than our very own Mystogan. Your reputation exceeds you." Laxus said with his twisted smile returning to his face. "Tempus, correct? I do not sense any magical power coming from you. Is your big secret that you cannot use magical power?" Laxus laughed at his own joke as he eyed Tempus with amusement but the blonde did not react nor flinch.

"Enough! Laxus, this boy used his magical power as soon as Mystogan entered. I know you saw it." Makarov said to Laxus, who didn't stop eyeing Tempus.

"That was a very quick move you did there Tempus, it didn't look like lightning to me," Laxus said, his smile becoming larger, "So if the rumors are true that would mean you could us—"Laxus was starting to add and Tempus' eyes widened. However, before Laxus could finish Tempus was already in front of him in a blink of an eye, surprising the entire guild including Laxus, his body sparkled of white lightning. His arms resting on his thighs as he sat perched on the upper railing of the guild, his eyes now carrying a dangerous glint as he stared down at Laxus.

"That was faster than the first." Laxus said with a grin as he met the younger mage's glare. Both men now radiating a menacing aura of crackling electricity.

"Laxus! That is enough! Besides, Tempus you are not allowed up on the second floor." Makarov stated with authority making the two mages break their stares. Tempus stopped his glare and looked down to Makarov while Laxus eyed the rest of the guild with amusement written all over his face.

"I am the strongest in the guild. I will not allow anyone to take that from me. Not even Erza or Mystogan." He sneered before he walked towards the back of the second floor. Tempus stared at him before his body crackled with white lightning and he disappeared from the rail to the front door of the guild and stepping out into the rain with his hands in his pockets.

"I'll go after him." Mirajane said; however, Makarov didn't respond, and watched her run out into the rain with an umbrella. The entire guild stood in an awkward silence after the sudden relief of tension the air was feeling. Each member not knowing what to say while the Master eyed the door that Tempus and Mirajane left through.

'Tempus…' He thought to himself, the surprise that was evident from Laxus' eyes as he first saw Tempus appear in front of him still ringing in his memories. He kept to himself as he was analyzing the situation still and took a swig from his drink.

"T-That's Tempus' magic?" Lucy said her mouth agape matching the rest of the guild who just witnessed an extreme speed. Natsu stared out into the rain, worried about Tempus; the blonde mage hasn't been pushed to such an edge for a long time he thought to himself as watched each droplet hit the floor.

…

Tempus was sitting next to the river, throwing rocks across it, just to alleviate some of the mental stress he just went through. The rain was hitting him hard but he didn't care all that much, it was good to go out in the rain once in a while to get a different sense of pressure in the world around you he always believed. He started playing with the earth in his hand, molding it before he threw it down the river. He suddenly felt the pressure of the rain go away and he only heard the rain around him. He looked up to see Mirajane standing over him with a soft smile, her eyes closed but happy nonetheless, and an umbrella.

"Hey Mira, you need something?" He asked as she simply shook her head and he picked up another rock and through it across the river. She watched him throw stones for a while in silence before eventually breaking the silence.

"I came to check on you, we are all worried." She told him as she squatted down next to him, keeping the umbrella over the two of them. "Did you use your magical power when we were all falling asleep from Mystogan to catch me?" She asked him, her curiosity had peaked when she had heard Laxus say he moved quite fast with the magic he used. He nodded and she softly smiled at him, happy he didn't let her drop onto the floor. "Thank you, Tempus. Let's go to a place that is less wet." She said as he nodded and walked with her to a nearby café where they got inside and she ordered two warm drinks.

"Thanks, Mira." He spoke out and it surprised her but she smiled anyhow. He sipped on his drink, his white cloak was behind him and his arms were both out on the table. "Shouldn't you be watching the bar though? Are you sure it is okay to be outside of the guild at this time of the day?" She waved him off and giggled lightly.

"This is more important than watching the bar. Anybody can pick it up for an hour or two while I am outside of the guild." Tempus chucked as he was now enjoying his time with the white haired mage. The two went around the town for the next three hours simply enjoying their time together. Tempus helped her with her guild shopping as well as playing games around town for their own enjoyment. They ate dinner at the same café together before heading back to the guild with all the supplies they gathered throughout the day. Mirajane was bubbling with excitement as the duo entered the guild once again.


	6. Chapter 6: Balance of the World

**Alright! Sorry for the painfully long update. **

**I got busy with work and the new schedule because I had never worked before so it was a new thing for me. **

**As I got used to it, Destiny was released so I started playing that. **

**During all this time though, I have come up with many ideas and have them all written down on my trusty little notepad here :P You guys are in for one heck of a treat.**

**I ****ship in about a month from now to Basic Training so I will be gone for four months then so let's try to hit 100k words by then!**

**-FTMinorz**

"How was the date?" Erza asked bluntly to the two mages in front of her. Both mages now looked completely flustered with a red tint as they tried to find the right words to say. "Do not worry. I know what you want to say, but the rest of the guild thinks differently and well I… agree with the guild." She said with a devilish smirk before walking off leaving Mirajane and Tempus in an awkward silence. Both of them looking away from each other, Mirajane was looking at the floor while Tempus was looking up at the ceiling with a hand behind his head but the awkwardness was broken soon by a familiar pink haired mage.

"You guys are back!" Natsu shouted with enthusiasm as he ran up to the duo, both eyeing him with a surprised expression, waiting to see if he will call them out like Erza had just done. But instead, the boy gave them an odd look. "Do you two have a fever or something? Your faces are red." He stated bluntly making them both start stuttering trying to deny the fact but Natsu roared with laughter, drowning them out.

"D-Do you need something, Natsu?" Mirajane asked him and he thought for a moment before grabbing Tempus and walking away leaving her bewildered at his sudden movement, so she decided to follow behind quietly as the two boys left the guild.

"Tempus, we have a slight problem." Natsu started talking to Tempus as they walked down the road. "Galuna Island isn't on the S-Class Quest Board." Mirajane watched the two carefully while Tempus frowned.

"You sure?" He asked and Natsu nodded vigorously.

"Positive. I was supposed to get it within the past fifteen minutes and it wasn't there. What do we do?"

"We take a road trip." Tempus said simply making Natsu look at him with a funny look. "Look, if we don't have the quest, we can just go down there without it and do what we need to do." Tempus told him as he conveyed his surroundings. The two now stood in a small clearing within the woods that surrounded their homes.

"But couldn't that mess up ti—"Natsu started to say but was interrupted by Tempus' hand over his mouth, his eyes now a tone of serious that Natsu understood immediately. Mirajane, however, was confused but not for long.

"One moment." Tempus said as he disappeared in the blink of an eye. Mirajane searched the clearing for any sign of the blonde mage but before she could finish searching with her eyes a pair of hands covered her mouth and held her hands behind her. He let her go nearly instantly and she turned around to see Tempus standing above her. "How can I help you, Mira?" He said with a grin on his face, as his eyes portrayed the fact he knew what she was doing.

"U-U-Uh, I was… um… lost." Mirajane said weakly as she looked away from the blonde boy. He picked her up by the back of her shirt and carried her to the middle of the clearing where he dropped her in front of the two boys.

"I know what you heard so I am wondering if you know the whereabouts of the quest we were talking about." He stated, obviously dodging the thoughts coming from her head as she pouted mutely.

"I haven't put it up yet. The Galuna Island S-Class Quest. Why would you two want it? You aren't S-Class wizards." She stated bluntly making Natsu look nervous while Tempus still kept his cool about the whole scenario.

"A friend of mine told me about a key from that request and we were going to go nab it for Lucy." Natsu quickly nodded his agreement with Tempus while Mirajane slowly pulled out the request and handed it over to Tempus.

"Wow Mira! I'm surprised you are fine with us breaking the rules!" Natsu said with a big grin as she gave him a glare, effectively scaring him.

"I'm not. As soon as I get back, I will let the Master know. You have about three hours to get going." She said and Tempus smiled before telling her to get going.

"Well we better go get Lucy, Tempus." Natsu told him and he nodded as the two boys started to run towards Lucy's apartment, their feet making little noise in the wet ground.

"WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING HERE!?" A blonde girl screeched as she entered her apartment to see two of her friends exercising on the floor. Natsu was on her bed doing crunches while Tempus was on the floor doing push-ups. Lucy was exhausted from her long day and came home wanting to sleep but found these two lunatics in her room. She wanted to throw them through the window but knew she did not have the strength to do so.

"We are here to bring you on a mission Luce!" Natsu said as Tempus nodded his agreement in the middle of his push-up. Lucy sighed; her teammates were always crazy but to show up to her apartment in the middle of the night was something new from them and she decided to hear them out. "It's an S-Class Quest!" Natsu shouted victoriously and Lucy immediately decided that hearing them out was a bad idea.

"I thought you weren't allowed to go on those!?" Lucy shouted to Natsu who merely shrugged as he vaulted off the bed and landed next to her.

"Besides, this has one of those Zodiac key thingies as a reward." He told her and she noticeably brightened. Tempus chuckled at her response before he too stood up and grabbed Natsu's rucksack and tossed it to him.

"Well, are we going or what?" Tempus said with a grin to the two and Lucy happily nodded her head as she went to grab her supplies. "We have one more hour Natsu, before Mirajane makes it back to the guild and Makarov sends somebody after us." Natsu nodded as Tempus leaped from the window and headed towards the docks, leaving him with Happy and Lucy.

…

_A group of eight men stood around in a circle with a ninth man in the middle amongst the shadows, each man stood in a different elemental design. The men were not clearly visible and their faces were not seen. The man in the middle spoke. _

"_The rebirth of the world has caused disorder… As light is born, so is Darkness and… Chaos. Zarr… Another Child of Light has awoken... Kill him." The man sad and a man near the elemental design of fire sparked to life._

"_The One has spoken brethren… I will return. When one falls… The others rise…" The seven remaining men all spoke the same last words and all nine evaporated into the shadows._

…

Tempus was standing next to the docks and waited for Natsu, Lucy and Happy with the demon who will be taking the four to the island. Tempus had taken a new liking to the peace and tranquility of nature and was watching the waves with his blue eyes along the horizon. His cloak brushed in the winds and his hair became messier as the wind kicked up a faster breeze.

_The air feels dark tonight. _Tempus thought to himself as he scanned the horizon. "Are we ready to go? They are almost here." Tempus asked the man and he nodded just as Lucy and Natsu rounded the corner surprising the man. "Then let's go."

"Found you." An extra voice pierced the wind behind them and they all turned to see Gray Fullbuster standing there staring at the group with satisfaction.

"Gray!? What are you doing here!?" Lucy asked him and he stared at the four of them nonchalantly.

"Gramps ordered me to bring you guys back." Gray stated to them.

"We got found out that quickly!?" Lucy said astonished and Tempus simply shrugged.

"Oi, we are going back now! I'll drag you back if I have too!" Gray said as he balled a fist of ice threateningly towards Natsu.

"Oh!? Are you looking for a fight Ice Princess!?" Natsu stated valiantly as he caught his arm on fire before both being interrupted by Tempus knocking out Gray.

"Alright, we are ready to go. Let's go!" Tempus said as he carried Gray's limp body over his shoulder.

"Why are we taking him with us!?" Lucy asked surprised as Tempus dropped him in the boat.

"Because; if we let him go, Gramps will just send somebody more threatening." Tempus stated to her and she nodded, accepting his reasoning as they were taken to Galuna Island. The man taking them suddenly disappeared causing Lucy to panic; however, the two boys were oddly unaffected by his sudden disappearance.

"Let's go find the village and get this over with!" Natsu said with great enthusiasm.

"Wait one second." Gray said and Lucy jumped, not expecting to hear his voice so suddenly.

"You can't take us back Gray, the boat is busted." Natsu told him and Gray shook his head.

"I'm coming with you. I can't let you beat me to the second floor and if we complete this mission then Gramps has no reason to complain." Gray said with a smirk earning one from the surrounding party as they all pumped their fists in the air.

"Yush! That gets me all fired up!" Natsu said triumphantly as he led the way towards the village.

Soon enough, they approached a sign that said 'Keep Out' in large letters and Tempus looked at it with mild amusement.

"Hello!? Open up please!" Lucy yelled to anyone on the other side of the large wooden fence that surrounded their destination.

"Can I break it?" Natsu said with an evil smirk causing the rest of the party to sink in defeat.

"It looks like you never grew up those two years at all Flamebrain…" Gray remarked, as both Tempus and Lucy nodded their agreement.

"Oh Shut up!" Natsu said but before a fight could break out a voice was heard from above.

"Who's there!?" A voice shouted from above them.

"We are from the Fairy Tail guild, here to answer your request!" Lucy said happily as the rest just stared at the top of the fence.

"Nobody notified us about the job being accepted!" The man shouted back, causing Lucy to stumble on how to respond, but luckily Gray knew and responded for her.

"That was probably just some issue with the paperwork!" The man nodded at the top but still wasn't content enough.

"Show me your marks!" He yelled back down and each member followed the orders and showed their marks off. "Woah… They really came. Open the gate!" The man finished as the gate opened to show a group of cloaked individuals in the middle of the village. A man with a more intricate design on his cloak spoke up.

"I am Moka, the chief of this village. Let's get straight down to business. Please, have a look." He said and they all removed their cloaks to reveal pieces and parts of a demon. Shocking both Gray and Lucy while Tempus and Natsu eyed the situation. "Everything on the island is affected by this curse. Even animals!"

"I don't mean to question you but how do you know it is a curse and not a disease of some sorts?" Gray broke in and the chief nodded his consent at the question.

"We have consulted many doctors but they say no such disease exists. We believe it has something to do with the moon above us. The moonlight used to be a blessing but a few years prior it turned purple." As if on cue, the clouds parted and a pink moon shone onto the village causing all the villagers to cry out in pain as they fully transformed into demons.

_Moon Drip._ Natsu thought as he stared at the sky. He looked at Tempus who gave him a look that said 'I understand.' He nodded at Tempus and looked back to the demons.

"Please save this village. We have had to kill those that lose their minds and fully become demons… Because of that… I had to kill my own son." The chief said as tears filled his eyes. "Please… we want you to... Destroy the moon…" He finished up before letting the mages rest on the idea and led them to where they would be staying.

…

"Destroy the moon, huh?" Tempus said to the group who simply nodded dumbfounded at the idea. "From what I see, it has nothing to do with the moon… It looks like a magical haze has surfaced over the island… kind of like a hazardous waste if you will." Natsu nodded his understanding while both Gray and Lucy agreed that the idea made since.

"Then why don't we just destroy the waste and be done with it?" Gray asked as he looked out the window and towards the pink moon.

"It would seem that simple wouldn't it?" Tempus continued as he watched Gray. "We have to stop whatever is causing this. Tomorrow we should take a walk around the island and find what is really going on." Natsu watched Tempus; he realized something was on his mind as his eyes betrayed his own seriousness about the situation he was not aware of.

"Alright." Gray answered him as he and Lucy decided to get some shut eye, leaving Natsu and Tempus alone in the main room. Tempus was looking out the window while Natsu watched him from behind as he sat on the couch.

"What is going on Tempus?" Natsu said to him. Tempus huffed out as he watched the horizon diligently.

"There is a sense of darkness here that I have never felt before. It is watching us right now but I cannot see where." He said as he continued to scan the horizon. Natsu was visibly unnerved by his partner's words as he stiffened slightly.

"I have felt an awkward presence." Natsu added to Tempus' explanation and Tempus thought on it before nodding his consent.

"Whoever it is, it doesn't plan on making a move as of right now. Its judging us so keep your magic to a minimum." Tempus told him and he nodded and yawned. "Let's get some rest, we'll need to deal with the Temple tomorrow." Tempus finished before the two went off to bed as the silent figure watched them from a distance.

"_Target located."_

…

"Oi! Wake up Tempus." Gray said as he roughly shoved Tempus off the bed and chuckled slightly as Tempus made an awkward sound as he hit the floor. Gray left the room to find Natsu and Lucy already snacking on a little bit of bread before heading out to the start of their S-Class mission. Tempus slowly joined them and grabbed a drink and sat down across from Gray as Natsu and Lucy sat across from each other and took out a map.

"We are here." He started pointing to their current location. "There is a temple to the northeast of the village and I think we should start our search there. It is the only shelter I could think of besides the mountain that a mage could be using to cast a spell that would create this kind of haze. Let's be wary now though, we do not know what kind of opponents we will be up against. Are we ready?" He asked but didn't wait for an answer as he threw on his cloak and led the party into the woods.

The group followed Tempus as they all took on different flanks and watched their sides. Happy and Natsu was on the left while Lucy and Gray were on the right. Tempus held the map and followed the trail.

"What's that noise?" Lucy spoke up and all four other members of the group halted their walk to listen in. A loud rumbling sound, sort of like an earth quake was coming from Lucy's direction.

"Is that your stomach Lucy?" Happy said while stifling a giggle and Lucy yelled at him but before they could continue the argument a giant rat burst from the trees and charged at the party. Natsu was the first to act by running forward and slamming his fist into the skull of the rat, sending it into the tree across from them affectively knocking the creature out.

"W-What just happened?" Gray asked as Natsu smirked.

"I knocked it out Ice Princess, you got a problem?" He said and Gray noticeably looked irritated.

"What was that Flame Brain!?" Gray started as the two started to butt heads.

"The temple is right here." Tempus stated, breaking into their thoughts as he walked over the logs and through the trees towards the inside of the temple. The Temple had a crescent moon insignia on the outside and on the inside the Temple was worse for wear. The structures were falling apart and vines grew from the crevices of the structure.

"This place looks like it is falling apart." Natsu said as he walked to the side of the temple. "Is the floor even safe?" He asked to no one in particular as he started pounding his feet onto the floor.

"Hey! Stop that!" Lucy called out to him but it was too late, the floor crumbled and they all fell down into the caverns beneath the temple. The bodies fell into a heap onto the floor, luckily unharmed by the event and Natsu immediately jumped up.

"Can't you think before destroying stuff!?" Gray asked him and he was ignored as Natsu looked quite pleased with himself.

"It's a secret cave guys, let's go exploring!" He shouted and ran off before the others could even think about stopping him so they decided to follow him. Natsu ran deeper into the caverns but was stopped as he ran into a giant figure incased in ice and froze, something was off. Deliora looked very much _alive_. Gray ran into the room and froze in shock at the sight of Deliora.

"T-This is… D-D-Deliora…? What is it doing here!?" He said as he stumbled towards the creature trapped in the ice. "T-That's impossible! I-It can't be here!" He shouted as his whole body shook.

"Gray, calm down." Lucy said, trying to reassure her friend. Gray calmed down a little bit as he struggled to force himself to stare at the beast above him. "What is this thing?" She asked him.

"It's Deliora." He said through gritted teeth as he stared at the beast. "The Demon of Destruction. It's just like it was back then… What is happening!?" Suddenly, footsteps were heard from behind them and Tempus motioned them to hide behind a convenient pile of rocks as a man that looked like a dog, and a man with spikey blue hair walked into the opening.

"You heard people's voices around here, Toby?" The blue haired man said to the other one.

"It's still early, I'm sleepy." Toby responded.

"Toby, you get exposed to the moon drip? You have ears now." The blue haired man said with a grin, setting Toby off.

"I told you before! They are decorations Yuka!" Toby yelled at him as he simply chuckled at him off. Soon though, a third member joined them; a girl with pink hair and a soft expression, wearing a black mini-dress.

"I bring bad news… Angelica was injured by someone." The girl started.

"Oh, for god sakes Sherry, it's a mouse. It doesn't need a name!" Toby said to her and she immediately took a defensive gesture as she was about to respond but was interrupted by Yuka.

"Intruders…" Yuka said and the two nodded.

"And we haven't collected all the moonlight we need yet!" Sherry complained. "Let's clear out all the intruders before the lord finds out about them and they see the moon's true appearance."

"Sounds good." Yuka said with a nasty grin but was interrupted by a sound coming from the entrance. "Let's go." He said as the three ran off in search of the cause of the noise.

"Good job Happy." Natsu said to the flying cat.

"Aye sir!" Happy responded with his enthusiastic self. "We could have just beaten them up though." He complained and Natsu nodded his head.

"Not yet." Tempus began, "We need to look around a bit longer and wait till tonight when the moon comes out. I feel we have yet to see all that we were meant too." He stated as Lucy nodded and Gray looked back at Deliora.

"Deliora was frozen on the north continent by my teacher Ul. Ul sacrificed her life to seal away this creature, so whoever this lord is… I won't let him spit dirt on Ul's name!" Gray said to the rest of the party. Natsu started to approach the demon but was cut off by a punch from Gray.

"Oi! What was that for Ice Princess!?" Natsu yelled at him.

"Don't get too close to it! You'll melt it!" Gray snapped back at him causing Natsu to jump up and glare at him.

"Natsu's fire won't be able to melt Iced Shell, Gray." Tempus said and Gray turned around, shocked that he actually knew the origins of the ice around Deliora.

"Why is he here? I don't get it. That ice is can't be melted so why is it here?" Tempus held up another hand to signal Gray to stop talking and hear him out.

"I think our best bet is to wait till night and wait for the moon to come out." Tempus told him and he nodded. "I'm going to get some shut eye as we wait." Tempus said as he walked back behind the pile of rocks.

"The rest of you get some as well." Gray said as he sat in front of the crystal. Lucy looked at him worriedly as she layed down to get some rest. Natsu went instantly asleep and Tempus stared at the wall as he pretended to sleep. Tempus sensed that darkness yet again and he was insecure of what the darkness was. Deliora did not give off that same dark feeling; whatever this feeling is coming from… Its power is devastating.

Hours passed as Tempus spent the time trying to locate the stalking figure with no such luck. The figure reminded him more of Rogue's shadows but it felt cold: as if its sole purpose was to make its prey bleed.

'What is going on?' He thought to himself as he remained alert all those hours until he felt the wispy magic spike and he jumped up to focus harder on the source of the magical power. Gray was eyeing him suspiciously but Tempus didn't care as he grabbed his staff off the floor.

"I'm going out for a bit Gray. There is something out there and I am going to find it. Make sure Natsu stays here, I have a bad feeling about this so leave him hear with you." Gray was too shocked by Tempus' stern voice to protest so he simply nodded and let the blonde boy go as he looked towards his sleeping comrades before reminiscing on his childhood.

…

"Take me to Galuna Island." A scarlet haired woman stated to a group of pirates she had just beaten senselessly. The pirates tried to talk her out of it but one stern look told them to be quiet and do as she told. She figured that they would be safe considering that she has been on numerous S-Class Quests. She clenched her fist as she was about ready to grab one of the boys and pound them into oblivion. Erza was coming.

…

"Natsu… Wake up." Lucy said as she pushed on Natsu's shoulder. Natsu was sleeping soundly like a baby and she felt bad that she had to get him up. Natsu stirred slightly before jumping into a fighting position, and then felt stupid as he realized nobody was there.

"Where is Tempus?" He asked as he looked around for the blonde mage, but Lucy merely shrugged.

"He said he was going to find something." Gray said to Natsu. Natsu paused for a moment and prevented a worried expression from breaking the surface of his face. He knew where Tempus went but he told himself Tempus can handle himself and decided to stay with Gray and Lucy in case something turned up that he was not expecting. He didn't have much time to think further as a large pink magic circle shone above Deliora and the light shone onto the crystal. Gray's and Lucy's eyes widened as they saw what was going on.

"Let's go!" Natsu shouted as he took off running to the top of the temple followed closely behind by Gray and Lucy. They ran through an open doorway that led to the peak of the temple and hid behind a small wall as they observed what was going on.

"Are they… praying?" Lucy asked and Natsu nodded.

"Moon Drip… A spell that utilizes the moons magical essence to remove any spell." Natsu said to the other members of the group and Gray's eyes widened in surprise.

"T-That's impossible! Iced Shell isn't a spell that can be simply removed!" He snapped at Natsu who held his hand up signaling him to stop.

"It's the moon vs ice magic Gray. The moon wins." Natsu stated simply to his angry comrade who finally caved into the truth.

"Who is doing this!? They don't know the ferocity of Deliora!" As he said this the group they saw earlier was joined by a fourth member clad in armor fit for a king ready for a war. He wore a long cape with fur on the outside and a mask to cover his face.

"Let's go. We need to end this quickly." Natsu said as he wished to get this journey to Galuna Island over with. He jumped out from behind the cover followed by Gray and Lucy. The group of four jumped; unexpected by the sudden appearance of the three mages and the flying cat.

"Stop this at once. You don't know the power of Deliora!" Gray yelled to the group who only just recovered from their initial shock of seeing the group.

"Of course we do… my dear Gray." Gray flinched at the voice as the man removed his helmet to reveal he was a boy with silvery hair spiked above his head. His eyes were piercing and he wore a confident stare.

"L…Lyon?" Gray stated emptily and Lyon simply smiled.

"That is right Gray!" Lyon said confidently. Natsu glowered at Lyon, his eyes showing his hate at seeing one of his friends changed back to the way they were.

"Gray." Natsu started, grabbing his attention. "I'm going to go stop the festival. Lucy watch them and make sure they don't do anything besides stay here. This is your fight Gray." Natsu told him and he nodded as Natsu smirked and threw off his cloak as his magical powered was gathered.

Natsu jumped into the middle of the circle of praying individuals and slammed his flaming fists into the ground causing an eruption of fire magic to occur and all the praying men to run in fear for their lives as Natsu fell to the ground level beneath him.

'Where is that masked man that smells like perfume?' He thought to himself as he wandered about, following his nose until he ended up on the basement floor. 'Wait a minute… Arc of Time… She'll have to show herself.' He said as he ran towards the pillars that supported the Temple. He easily destroyed the structures effectively tipping over the Temple. Natsu sat down in the middle of the collapsed structures content with his work and waited for the man to show up.

Sure enough the masked man entered the room, where he saw Natsu sitting on a collapsed pillar as if it was a tree stump. The man smiled at the expression on Natsu's facing, one of boredom and disapproval.

"What's wrong Salamander? Are you not happy to fighting the old-man Zalty?" He said sarcastically. Natsu merely shrugged and looked him straight in the eyes; his eyes stern and unnerved Zalty a little bit.

"If you want to hide your appearance, you should hide your scent. You smell like a girl." Natsu said, but his tone knew more than he let on. Zalty smiled mischievously.

"You're not as dumb as they say, Salamander." His body started to morph as he slowly curtsied. When he finished with the curtsy he was now actually a girl. She wore a short white kimono with a yellow belt wrap. She had straight black hair and black eyes and carried a teal orb in her left hand.

"Are you going to introduce yourself?" Natsu told her as if he expected her to keep up her arrogant and mischievous demeanor but she shook her head so he let it go for now. "Whatever you do to try and balance the structure, I will just destroy again. So you will have to go through me if you want to release Deliora." He told her and she smirked and took out her orb.

"Let's test your strength, Salamander." She said with curiosity as she threw the ball at him at an increased pace but he just back handed it out of the air, unamused. She glowered at him. "Fine. **Arc of Time: Flash Forward!**" She said and smiled as hundreds of orbs rushed towards Natsu at blinding speeds and smirked confidently but was cut off in shock. The orbs would hit his body but that part of his body would simply turn into fire and the orb would go right through him without causing any damage.

"This was always a neat spell." Natsu said as he reached his right arm and caught one of the balls and broke it by smashing it in his hand. Ultear was shocked, the orbs started to fly around him as she was frozen.

"W-What… Just what are you!?" She shouted at him and he shrugged, she tried to recover and take a fighting stance but before she got to cast another spell his entire being dispersed into flames and he reappeared in front of her kicking her feet from beneath her and trapping her hands onto the ground by flaming cuffs.

Natsu stood over her, his eyes reflecting no passion as the very essence of his emotions was pulled from him. Ultear knew she could not win this battle, even if she could fix the pillars, his power was too great and he could destroy them faster than she can fix them. This man was no longer a human in her eyes. She decided that the only way to free Deliora from his prison was to create chaos.

Ultear focused her magical power above her and melted every floor up to the moon to allow the moon's flow to still hit Deliora. Natsu looked up with surprise as he cursed out loud and ran to the chamber that held the demon.

'Deliora is alive. That crystal can't take much more. What is happening!?' Natsu said to himself as he ran down the spiral of stairs that led to the rocky base level of the Temple but before he could make it all the way down he heard a loud roar come from the depths of the Temple. 'Crap!' Natsu thought as he ran faster and decided it wasn't fast enough so he made his own route. He broke down the walls and floors beneath him and landed in front of the crystal. Deliora looked at the newcomer with glowing red eyes as the ice around him slowly melted.

Natsu watched in horror as the demon was releasing its magical power to speed up the process in which the ice melted. The ice was already nearly past the bottom of his hands and was melting at an increasingly rapid rate. Deliora broke it's left hand free and sent a wave of dark energy towards Natsu who had just enough time to put a shield of fire to block the oncoming attack.

"So much power…" Natsu mumbled out loud. "I have to defeat these things to release Zeref… correct?" He said to no one in particular and looked up at Deliora with determination. "Alright… Let's dance ugly!" Natsu said as he jumped towards Deliora with a flaming fist.

…

"That sound… Deliora is alive and awake?" Tempus said to himself as he looked back at the Temple but decided to continue to move forward to find this figure before he lost track of it. The figure was running away from its original spot.

Tempus continued to follow the magical power he sensed and was running across a large field when he felt the power spike once again and jumped backwards on instinct as a figured landed with enough force to cause a small crater where Tempus was standing just a moment ago. Tempus looked at the figure in front of him. The man wore a black cloak and his face could not be seen. His eyes glowed red and his clothes was leather and were also all black.

"_Hello… Child of Light..._" The man had a raspy voice and the inside of his mouth also glowed red. Tempus took a step back to prepare for any surprise attacks.

"Who are you?" Tempus stated to him without lowering his guard. The figure still stood there as if he had just landed in the crater. It slowly rose but remained slightly hunched over as he stared at Tempus with those glowing orbs.

"_We always tell our prey who we are… if they can survive the first attack... Most cannot sense our magical power… My name is Zarr… You are my mission…" _Without saying another word the figure dashed towards Tempus at a speed Tempus wasn't suspecting and sent a fist at Tempus. Tempus quickly ducked and sent a kick at Zarr's midsection but his kick went through Zarr as if the figure wasn't even there and Zarr returned with a kick of his own sending Tempus across the field.

Tempus skidded across the dirt and slowed himself down before gathering his composure and quickly came to his feet only to find Zarr staring at him from where he was kicked a second ago.

"_What's wrong Child…? Are those Gates of the Occultus slowing you down?"_ Zarr asked and Tempus flinched.

'How did he know I was using the Gates to conceal my magic?' Tempus thought to himself.

"_I have to admit… it was hard to find you… But light can never be extinguished completely…" _Zarr told him and Tempus glowered at him. Tempus took another fighting stance as Zarr charged him yet again and two swords made from nothing but the shadows formed in his hands as he rushed at Tempus. Zarr leaped into the air and swung his sword down as he fell towards Tempus. Tempus rolled out of the way but the landing caused a dust cloud to form temporarily making Tempus lose sight of his opponent.

A sword immediately pierced through the smoke in a horizontal slash and Tempus ducked under it only to be met by Zarr's boot coming for his face. Tempus brought his hand up to block but the boot went through his hand and collided with his cheek causing him to lose his balance as Zarr sent another kick from the other side. Tempus brought his forearm to absorb some of the impact as he was sent across the field yet again.

'I can't land a punch, or even block!?' Tempus thought to himself. 'He has no intention of letting me undo the Gates either. I have a small amount of magical power; I'll have to use it to stall so I can undo the Gates.' Tempus put his hands in front of him as Zarr started his attack again and caused a wall of Earth to appear between them. However, before he could cast the next spell he saw Zarr simply run through the wall of Earth in shock. Tempus rolled away as a blast of shadowy magic was shot at him, halting his ability to cast a magic spell. Just as he rolled to his feet though, a faded magic circle was beneath him.

"_Perish Child!" _A giant beam of shadowy fire bellowed out of the ground enveloping everything in the circle. The black magic faded and nothing remained on the spot. Zarr smirked to himself.

"What is so funny?" Zarr looked behind him to find a girl with red hair in a leopard print outfit and ears with Tempus standing behind her.

"_Titania… A woman who was considered an extremely powerful person… in the past life… Right... Child of Light?" _ Tempus looked at him cautiously. Zarr's knowledge keeps surprising him

"Erza… This opponent isn't a normal opponent. He uses a form of Fire Magic. I saw the flames with the last attack. I can handle this now. Go check on Gray, he needs you now." Erza looked at him as if he was crazy. "I know you just saved me, but you gave me the information I needed as well. Go, if you don't Gray may die. You can come back after you check on him." Erza hesitated before nodding and ran off in her flight armor.

"_Interesting Child…" _Zarr said as he looked up to Tempus. Tempus was standing on a tree branch, his eyes no longer showing any sort of hesitation.

"**Gates of the Occultus.**" Tempus stated simply as golden gears formed in front of him. He rotated the bottom left gear as all the gates started to rotate as well, his cloak started to rise as the magical power being released from the gates was starting to become overwhelming. Zarr charged at Tempus trying to stop the Gates from releasing the power that was happening. He appeared in front of Tempus but before he could land a punch he was by Tempus' right hand sending him bouncing along the ground until he rammed into a rock causing a crater to form behind him from the mass amount of force.

Tempus remained calm as he jumped off the tree branch and onto the ground below him. Tempus stared at his opponent more determined and confident for the upcoming battle. Zarr slowly stood up as he stared at Tempus. Tempus was no glowing a thin white aura as if the moonlight had given him a new form of power.

"_Die."_ Zarr said to Tempus as he charged him. Tempus took a step back and traded blows with Zarr. Tempus could now physically injure Zarr by using light as a medium he can grab hold of the shadows. He took a firm hold of Zarr's wrist and slammed a fist into the side of his face before flinging him across the field into the trees behind him.

"Who are you!?" Tempus yelled into the trees, unsure of where his opponent had gone once he fell into the shadows. Tempus wanted answers on why he was being hunted by this mysterious man. Suddenly a large amount of the shaded magic came at him again. Tempus brought one hand up and absorbed most of the hit before dispelling it. 'Fire magic?' Tempus thought to himself as his hand had become extremely burnt by the flames.

Another burst of flames shot out from the trees but Tempus dodged it and sent a blast of white fire following where the attack came from but with no success. 'Just what are you…?'

…

Natsu forced the demon into the ocean with a punch of fire sending the best falling outside the Temple. Natsu jumped outside as well and flew with his feet keeping him air born.

"Take this Deliora!" He yelled as he started to breathe in fire and lightning. "**Roar of the Lightning-Flame Dragon!**" Natsu roared out as a large beam of fire surrounded by lightning shot towards Deliora's mid-section hitting the beast directly causing it to roar out in pain but causing nearly no damage to the demon. Natsu made himself start floating again to match the demon's height. "I can't win like this… I need to use the black arts to kill this thing."

Natsu silently floated in the sky with a shimmering fire beneath him keeping him airborne. His eyes slowly opened to reveal crimson orbs.

"**Black Art No. 4: Last Rain of the Storm.**" He said coldly as a large storm kicked up around Deliora, washing him around as if he was a nothing more than a ragdoll. "**Black Art No. 3… Sheer Cold."** The water that was washing him around instantly froze with him under it and ice formed nearly two miles away due to the power of the spell. Natsu then swiped both of his arms together until bottom of his hands met. The hand on top has the index and middle finger pointing upwards while the bottom hand has the index and little finger pointing downwards.

"Repent!" Natsu said as a large pillar of black magic shot through the clouds and into Deliora. The magic sided and there was a giant hole through the beast and it's body was turning gray and flaky until it's body split apart and dispersed. Natsu slowly made his way back to the island and fell into the grass, completely exhausted.

"You know… He makes death magic look so easy to wield." Natsu mumbled to himself.

"That was some show, Salamander." Natsu looked up to see Ultear out of her bonds standing on a tree above him. Natsu struggled to sit up as he glared at her. "Do not worry I am not here to pick a fight."

"What do you want then?" Natsu said with little curiosity and a little venom. Ultear sat on the tree she was standing on as she watched the ice melt away from everything Natsu had affected.

"I would like to know where Lord Zeref is." Ultear said and Natsu simply looked confused.

"Who is Zeref?" Ultear was surprised that he didn't know. She thought for sure he would know because he knew Black Magic that was told in the Books of Zeref.

"You don't know who he is?" She asked him and he simply shook his head.

"If I were you, I'd leave soon. Tempus or Erza should be here soon and I don't think you will want to stand and fight." He stated simply and she slowly nodded before turning around to leave.

"Natsu… Next time we meet. I won't lose to you so easily." She stated before running off quickly.

"Yeah… Next time we meet, I won't be your opponent." Natsu said quietly as he laid back and looked into the sky. His opponent was not challenging but it sure took a lot of energy to take down. What is going on here? He decided to talk to Tempus later about it.

"Natsu!?" He heard a voice come from behind him and he looked backwards to see Erza carrying Gray over her shoulder with Lyon behind them while Lyon's friends followed him as well.

"Yo." He stated simply as he looked away.

"Did you defeat Deliora?" Lyon asked him and he nodded. "How am I supposed to surpass Ur now!?" Lyon complained but Natsu glared at him making him shut up.

"I know you saw the fight I had. If you actually believe you stood a chance again that thing you need to get some sense beaten into you." Natsu stated coldly but with a bit of amusement.

"Lyon." Lyon turned to Gray who was looking straight at him. "I think it is time you moved on. Try finding a guild and making friends. That way you guys can share goals and accomplishments together." Lyon hesitated but eventually gave in and nodded. Natsu laughed and pumped his fist into the air.

"Perfect! Now all we need is Tempus here then we can finish this day and go home!" Erza's eyes widened as she dropped Gray and instantly ran off. "That can't be good…" Natsu said as he watched her change back into her flight armor and leave in a flash.

…

Tempus panted heavily. He had used most forms of the elements in an attempt to combat this man's power. Frost was aligned around the ground and a tree was caught on fire, a failed lightning rod. His eyes scanned the trees around him as he waited for his opponent to make a move. The earth around him was slightly charred from the fire that was deflected by him.

'Somebody who can't be hit by physical attributes… Uses a nasty form of fire… What am I missing? Is he like Natsu's flicker fire?' Tempus thought to himself. He didn't have much to react though as another volley of fire came from the left side of him and he leaned back to dodge it but the fire materialized into Zarr.

Tempus was caught off guard by the sudden offensive attack by Zarr. Zarr swung his left arm towards Tempus who quickly blocked it with his forearm. Zarr however, was already bringing a second swing down on Tempus with his second arm. Tempus recovered quickly and grabbed both of Zarr's wrists and bent them backwards as he gathered energy in his mouth.

"**Roar of the—"**Tempus was cut short as a burst of the shadow fire came out from Zarr's midsection burning Tempus and sending him backwards away from Zarr. Tempus threw water onto his arms right before the fire hit him reducing the amount of burning he would have received from the direct attack. Zarr was laughing sinisterly and had his entire body bent in a crazed way.

"_Child of Light…" Zarr spoke in a raspy voice that seemed to thoroughly enjoy this moment. "Do you actually think you can win with that power?" _He chuckled darkly but Tempus was not having any of it.

"**Rise!**" Tempus shouted as he brought his hands together and six copies of his staff emerged from the ground fully circling Zarr. Zarr's bright red eyes widened in shock as he realized his situation too late. "**Sacred Art No. 3:** **Pillars of the Earth!" **Each staff formed into these six pillars that grew into the sky and out of sight. Zarr was stuck inside and tried to rush Tempus but was hit by an invisible barrier in between the pillars. Tempus calmly walked towards the outside of the barrier formed by the pillars with his hand raised.

"_W…What is this magic!?" _Zarr yelled at the blonde mage on the other side of the barrier. Tempus didn't answer and only stared at him as a large white magic circle formed at the base of the pillars, connecting each pillar.

"Who are you?" Tempus demanded from him. "This fight is over. You are a being made of smoke and fire. I noticed as you can move through objects by separating your being into smoke to traverse through physical objects. The time you walked through the wall of earth, and the times you could dodge through my physical attacks but not when my body was covered in magic." Zarr was glaring at him but didn't say anything. "Lastly, when you transformed yourself into smoke and tried to make the battle more close range, the speed in which the cloud came at me was much slower than usual. I pretended to be surprised and I forced you into using a defensive ability without your hands. The pillars were already set before you came at me."

Zarr started to chuckle as he looked at a disapproving Tempus. Tempus had a few wounds from the battle excluding the massive amount of burns on his body.

"_Bravo… Child of Light… You deserve a little bit of information I suppose… I am Zarr of the Figures of Nine… And... you started a new world of balance..." _Zarr said with a bright red smirk plastered on his face. Tempus had enough of the guy and looked at him one last time.

"_**Perish.**__" _He said simply as the ground beneath Zarr started to glow and Zarr's eyes widened. The ground turned into pure white and a great magical force shut out from the bottom as Zarr screamed out in pain. Zarr's body started to turn a light gray as the shadows left his body and his neon bright red eyes started to pale in color. His light gray body started to flake as he looked at Tempus in anger and agony.

"_You… You will die… Tempus!_" He managed to get out before his whole being was erased within the Pillars. The pillars returned to the six staves and then gathered into one staff as Tempus fell backwards; his body hurting and heavy from the amount of power he had to use. He let out a small laugh as it started to rain much to his dismay.

"Balance of the World... Is that why Deliora is alive this time?" Tempus mumbled out loud to himself as he stared at the rain. He closed his eyes and chuckled slightly. "Why does it have to rain? It burns!" Tempus said but the rain suddenly stopped so he opened his eyes to see Erza standing above him blocking out the rain. She was holding an adamantine shield above them to protect him from the rain. She gave him a light smile as she removed her shield and helped him up. "T-Thanks… Erza." Tempus said with a light smile as she half carried him out of the field with his staff in the other hand.

"You look pretty beat up Tempus." She stated to him as she looked around at the clearing he was in. The ground had six craters from where she saw the pillars rise. "I saw the last moments of your fight…" She told him and he just chuckled lightly.

"Can't hide my magic forever Erza." He told her joyfully and she smiled softly back, happy that he wasn't upset about it. He noticed something was itching to come out of her so instead of letting her sit on it he decided to force her to spill it. "What's on your mind?"

"That last spell you pulled… _Pillars of the Earth... _I think you called it. What type of magic was that?" She asked him and he thought about how to describe it.

"Light." He answered simply and she looked at him, she had seen magic before but that type of light was so different that it was hard to imagine any other form of light. She helped Tempus to the village where she layed him down and wrapped his arms with bandages and gave him a drink before leaving him alone in the tent.

"Hey Erza!" Natsu said with a big grin. "How is he?"

"He's got some nasty burns and a couple deep cuts and bruises but other than that he'll walk away perfectly fine from all this… Besides," She looked straight at Natsu, Gray and Lucy, "Why are you on an S-Class Quest!?" She yelled at them and her eyes showed pure anger. All three instantly stiffened and didn't say a word. "Master Makarov has plenty to say about this when you get back!"

"It was Flamebrain's idea!" Gray instantly said to save his own skin causing Natsu to gawk at him.

"Who was it that was supposed to come and stop them?" Erza told him and he stiffened more causing Natsu to smirk confidently. "Let's finish this up, you will not be accepting any rewards." She stated dryly to them causing them all to grown but Natsu spoke up.

"Actually, can we accept the Zodiac Gate Key?" Natsu asked. "It's for Lucy's magic." Erza thought about it for a moment and nodded.

"We can take that but the money stays here." She stated and all of them saluted her instantly. "From what I gathered when I went to help Gray. Lyon, Gray's student was using an ancient spell named Moon Drip to melt Deliora's ice correct?" Gray nodded and she continued. "So what is in the sky is just sort of like a layer of waste in the sky. We shatter the waste and everything should be fine."

"Tempus explained this too us after we first got her." Gray told her and she nodded, not surprised that he was able to figure this out so quickly.

"Natsu, let's go handle this. Gray and Lucy watch over Tempus. I want to talk to Natsu in private as well." Erza stated and Natsu gulped. Both Gray and Lucy both seemed perfectly fine to signing Natsu's life as they both vanished into Tempus' tent without saying anything to Natsu.

"S-So what did you want to talk about Erza?" He asked and she motioned for him to start walking with her towards the center of the village to see the village chief.

"What did you two do those two years?" Erza asked him and he contemplated lying but one look at the red demon to his left told him otherwise.

"We were training on Tenroujima." He stated dryly, as he knew her response before she said it.

"The Fairy Tail Holy Ground!?" She stated in shock. "B-But how did you get there?"

"Master Zer—Mavis! Set up a boat for us. It was scheduled." This confused her greatly.

"Why?" She simply asked him and he hesitated. She was less worried about Master Mavis being his excuse as she was on why the dead guild master would have called two random members to come train. It did not make any sense to her.

"Let me talk to Tempus about telling you why and we will do it to the entire guild at once…" He said looking away from her. She simply nodded and thought about it before accidentally bumping into the village chief absent mindlessly.

"Oh! Who are you?" He asked her.

"My name is Erza Scarlet. I am also a mage from Fairy Tail who was sent to bring this man," She pointed to Natsu who responded with a friendly wave and yo, "and his accomplices home. They are no qualified for an S-Class Quest. However; since I am here we will finish it anyway. Let's go, Natsu. I need your help to destroy the moon." Natsu simply chuckled as he followed her towards the guard tower on the outer wall.

…

"Interesting… That boy outmatched you in combat?" A man spoke through a teal orb. Ultear was on the other side and she nodded. The man wore a robe with a hood hiding the features around his face. Small strands of blue hair could be seen from the outside of the hood however.

"His power is unmatched. Whoever he is, we need to be more prepared." She told the voice which respond with a slight nod before talking.

"Good… Good Ultear. We'll need to... balance the odds. Come back to the council. We need to meet our final preparations to revive Zeref." The voice spoke again. "I will see you in three hours."

"Yes my lord…" She finished what she was saying and stood on the tree trunk. "This journey to Galuna wasn't that much of a failure. We got some useful information out of it." She said to herself and smiled before leaving the premises of Galuna Island.

**Alright! There you guys go! **

**Again sorry for the long update, I wish I would have had the time to write but with everything else it was really hard to find the time up until recently. **

**I will try to get the next chapter up soon! Until then, I hope you guys enjoy your time.**

**The next chapter will be wrapping up events in Galuna Island and doing Phantom Lord's attack on Fairy Tail. **

**I'm skipping the whole Lucy and Loke part and just letting it happen in the background of other events, until then.**

**-FTMinorz**


	7. Chapter 7: Hero

**Yo. I started writing this with word lagging. I didn't even know that was possible! Well, enjoy the story anyway! I am starting to delve into the lore behind my story and you may have questions, may not. This will end an extra dimension to the story that will help make more sense in later parts as well as add to the story as a whole! I will be adding more lore into sections that I feel are lacking in the story (either because not enough happens in this particular part, or i don't necessarily like the arc too much). Every good story has a history.**

**AS always I do not own Fairy Tail.**

**-FTMinorz**

"Hello."

Tempus jumped straight into a sitting position towards the owner of the voice. He looked to the side of his bed to see a mysterious cloaked figure sitting on her knees. She wore a worn red cloak that covered her face and she had locks of brown hair that flowed out the front of her hood. She sat at a specific angle to Tempus so he could not see her face. She sat next to him as if he was a wounded child and she was waiting for him to wake up. Her robe hard worn golden trims along the outside as well as a golden tree insignia along the back.

"Who are you?" Tempus asked cautiously to the figure.

"I am the one they refer to as the Hero. A user of the Sacred Arts and Pure Magic." Tempus looked as if he was about to pass out and go back to bed but her tone kept him awake and movie. "I have come to aid you."

"Why should I believe you? The "Hero" has been dead for over a thousand years and from what I was told, you were corrupted by evil intentions and cut down by Ardria when you came to the Crossroads to get your ability to use the Sacred Arts released." Tempus stated to her but she didn't react at all, her body remained relaxed and remained staring across from him as if there was a second figure he could not see.

"My story will come in a later date. I do not have the time to explain it to you. Your power is not as immeasurable as you may think…." She paused for a minute as if pondering something.

"Tempus. My name is Tempus." Tempus stated to her with lacking enthusiasm.

"Right… Tempus… Temp… Tempy!" She said absent mindedly and giggled softly. Tempus was not enjoying this. First he is woken up from being worn out and now he finds out this so called Hero acts like a second Mavis. The disapproval and disappointment was written all over his face.

"Get on with it." He stated, trying to get her to focus and she coughed and regained her composure as if she had never uttered those words.

"Tempus. The Sacred Arts are not an immeasurable power. They are powerful yes but each art takes a large amount of both physical and mental strain to use." Tempus nodded, as he was already given this lecture once. "But… I am sure you noticed that you were much more easily worn out after using only one Sacred Art, correct?" He started to shake his head but as he thought about it. She was right. After one Sacred Art, he was down and had to be helped by Erza. At first, he simply dismissed it as his injuries from the previous fight but he should have been able to walk away with ease with just the cuts and bruises he had received. He noticed she was now looking at him, but her hood still shielded most of her face, expecting an answer.

"Yes. I couldn't move very well and needed to be aided by Erza…" He told her and she nodded her head. She scooted closer to him and that was when he noticed he was all bandaged up. Two glass mirrors formed into her hands and she positioned them in front and behind him so he could see his own back.

"You should already know about this. It is quite painful to receive, is it not?" He nodded and she continued. "The Mark given to us by the Creator, it increases our ability to control the magic also gifted to us. However, it is not meant to keep our magic at a near limitless value. The Creator and The Destroyer is a tale given to you by Mavis, and the only thing they fail to mention is that the two were actually great friends who shared an equal power. This power became substantial as they fought, resulting in what you see before you. When you are your comrade are together, your power grows and the circle in the center of your structure shows that. Half. Half of your power is your own. The other half comes from being close to your friend." Tempus was kind of surprised. Yes, she was right that in all the cases that he had to use his magical power he was close to Natsu. The only occasion was when he went to take care of the dark guild at the train station.

"How about at the train station? I could use even Light Manifestation there and back, as well as a Sacred Art without being exhausted." He told her.

"You left, took care of business, and came right back. You were close enough to Natsu then that the first Light Manifestation was completely nullified by the amount of magical power coursing through you. The use of one Sacred Art without any injuries and any sort of magic is about half of your magical reserves and the Light Manifestation would have drained you but you returned next to Natsu, causing your excess reserves to kick in, keeping you stable." Tempus looked at her as he processed this information.

"Just how powerful am I then?" He was getting tired of all this talk about how he wasn't as good as he thought he was. It was starting to tick him off.

"I believe there is another man in this era. His name is Guildarts, I believe?" She said as she looked at him and he nodded. He remembered Guildarts' power very well, the frightening overwhelming power that he can submit anyone with just a look. "You are, I guess in simplistic terms, about a third stronger than him when you are separated." Tempus looked crushed.

'A third!? How can I beat Acnologia, with only a fraction of power greater than Guildarts!?' He thought to himself but was interrupted by the continued talk of the mage in front of him.

"Also, your power was even greater while on Tenroujima due to the great Tenrou Tree that Mavis infused her own magic with to protect her children. To put it on a scale of one to one hundred... With your friend and on Tenroujima, you are at one hundred. Guildarts is at thirty, but without your friend and Tenroujima you are limited down to forty. If you are with Natsu off of the island, you are at ninety. That is the simplest I can put I think. There are other methods to increase your total magical power, of course." Tempus nodded his head as he slowly understood.

"So, trying to do battles by myself, I am only at forty percent of my total strength?" He asked her but again, she didn't react.

"Time is almost over. The last thing I have to say before I go." She said as she quickly stood up. "Watch out for the darkness, Tempus. They are coming for you… The _Nine." _The way she said the last word sent shivers up his spine. "I will release the Yurathiel Bubble now, so your friends can enter the tent. We will speak again soon, and when that time comes I will be able to answer your questions and explain everything you need explained but, one last thing." She said as she got closer to Tempus and took his hands in her own. Her body glowed a pale pink color then the pink magic faded.

"What?" Tempus asked, dumbfounded as he had never seen this before.

"I put an ancient form of magic inside of you. We are connected and you will be able to access a conversation with me that way." She said as she walked away from the side of Tempus.

"Wait!" Tempus called out to her but she simply half turned towards him before completely fading away as if she was never there. As soon as she left Erza came bursting into the tent with her sword drawn and a fierce look in her eye followed by Natsu, Gray and Lucy, all of his friends looking as if they were expecting a fight.

"Tempus, what was that?" Natsu asked him, his eyes showed a look of determination and was not filled with his normal happiness. His right hand had steam rising from it as if it was melting at an extreme temperature.

"What was what?" Tempus asked, having a small idea on what they were so worked up about.

"There was a bubble surrounding your tent. Natsu couldn't break the bubble and the bubble burned his hand when he tried to force his way through." Erza stated coldly as she looked around for a foreign individual.

"That wasn't your magic Tempus. I know it wasn't. I have never seen that magic before, who was in here?" Natsu asked him, it felt as if he was being demanded to speak. It wasn't too much of a surprise coming from Natsu because any magic that can physically burned Natsu puts him through an unease he is not used to.

"It was a cloaked figure who wanted to talk to me. It wasn't anything to worry about." Tempus said as he waved them off and they all hesitantly relaxed and Erza sat next to him. Gray followed suit and sat next to Erza while Natsu and Lucy took the opposite end of the cot.

"It is time for you two to talk." Erza said to Natsu and Tempus who both gulped nervously but both nodded sullenly. "Let's start with you Natsu. I saw that magic you used, most of us did. You used a magic that is built for death. That is not like you at all. Explain." She stated simply and he sighed out before slowly choosing his words.

"To put it simply, Tempus and I have the roots of all magic within us. The Light of Purification and the Darkness of Corruption. This is the simplest of terms given to me by my Master as I was training under him. I use mainly my Dragon Slayer Magic but on occasions I am required to bring out the Darkness to beat my foe. The Black Arts are the gate between The Darkness of Corruption and the World. Tempus has something similar." Natsu began and let his comrades absorb the information.

"I know. It's the Sacred Arts, is it not?" Erza asked and he nodded.

"The Sacred Arts are skills that take the purest essence and using it as a weapon while the Black Arts are the opposite, taking the very core of corruption to use as a weapon. My magic is used to destroy those around me, which is why I barely ever use it. I do not wish to use my magic to harm a living soul." Natsu told them and nodded his head, indicating he was finished explaining. Erza nodded her head and turned to Tempus.

"Your turn. Explain the symbol on your back first of all and anything else that goes with it." Natsu's eyes widened as he realized how Tempus got those bandages. Erza was the one who put them on him, therefore seeing the mark on his back.

"As Natsu said, we possess the qualities of the roots of magic. The biggest difference is that my magic can be used separately from the arts while Natsu's cannot. Natsu can, however, use this magic to improve the power of his flames. My base magic is called Pure Magic; the Sacred Arts require this base magic to be able to be used. This mark on my back marks me as a user of the Sacred Arts. The qualities of these magic are have put a mark of equal value upon both me and Natsu." Erza nodded; this making sense to her but she wasn't finished yet.

"Last question, either of you can answer. Why were you on Tenroujima and summoned by Mavis? Natsu told me he was to talk to you about it before answering but I believed this to be as good a time as any." Erza said, her eyes staring into their souls. Tempus quickly glared at Natsu.

'You nitwit.' Tempus thought as Natsu visibly scooted a little further from Tempus' swinging distance so he didn't get hit. Tempus looked away from Natsu and looked down before sighing.

"I cannot say right now. The time is not right. I will talk to Natsu soon about it and I will tell the entire guild when the time comes." Tempus said as he looked at the other three guild mates sitting around him, his eyes showed that his resolve will not be changed. Gray just shrugged.

"We shouldn't pressure them too much. I'm happy I got to know more about Sparky-Sparky's magic though!" He said with a big grin, earning him a glare from Tempus.

"I'll take your word for it then Tempus. Come with me, Natsu. I want some help with getting our preparations finished for our ride home." Natsu paused but Tempus nodded so he stood up and left the tent with the scarlet mage.

"While we do this. I want you to tell me about your training. I will ask Tempus later after he is done recovering and talking to his other comrades." Natsu paused but quickly caught up to her stride.

"What do you want to know about it?"

"I want to know more about these Black Arts you used. Sheer Cold and Last Rain of the Storm." She told him and he nodded.

"The Black Arts are not really gates as I had stated before. They are more like keys towards the World. The World is a power that created something known as The One Magic that many believe to be the origin of all magic. Sheer Cold and Last Rain of the Storm are Ice and Water spells respectively that use a tremendous force that is designed to wipe many enemies at once. Using it in water just eases the use of the spell." Natsu told her and she was quiet for a few minutes as she took in the information that was given to him.

"How about that last spell? The pillar of black... death." She could not think of a better way to describe the eerie feeling she had received from witnessing that magic but she was not aware of how accurate she was.

"It is as you say it is." Natsu started. "It is Death Magic." She looked at Natsu incredulously.

"Why do you know Death Magic!?" She asked him and he backed away subconsciously.

"My Master gave me a quest to kill certain creatures. He gave me the knowledge of Death Magic to help ease the time I needed to spend killing these creatures. Deliora just happened to be one of the creatures he wanted me to kill." Erza stared at him cautiously, as she noticed he was being very mysterious about his whole training session for the past two years.

"Who was your Master?" She asked him bluntly as they entered the Chief's home where he was talking with his now reunited son. Natsu sighed, he felt defeated but then he remembered something.

"Master Yukso." He told her, technically it wasn't a lie so he didn't have to feel guilty about hiding it from her but the less she knew about Zeref, the better she was.

"Look! Bobo is alive!" Moka told them, his spirits were high as his son laughed in the background and Erza smiled.

"I'm sorry to intrude. We are here to schedule a ship home." Erza said and Moka nodded but before he got to do anything about it Bobo spoke up.

"I can take you guys back to the docks. After all, it is the least I can do for saving my home." Bobo told them and Natsu grinned.

"Thank you, Bobo." Erza said to him.

"I'll go get the boat ready. Grab your comrades and we can leave as soon as you get to the docks!" Bobo said as he ran out the door. Natsu laughed as he left the home with Erza behind him.

"Natsu, what was that bubble around Tempus' tent?" Erza asked him and his joking demeanor immediately changed.

"I don't know. The magic felt so, other-worldly; even with the Black Arts, I've never seen that before. During our training, the Masters found people from all around the world to train us but that magic didn't even come close to any of their own magical composition." Natsu told her and she nodded. She too, had never run into a barrier that powerful. She couldn't even feel Tempus' presence on the other side of the barrier until after it disappeared.

The duo arrived back to the tent to see Tempus talking to Gray and Lucy about his and Natsu's magic. He gave them a small wave as they entered and the other two shifted attention to the two newcomers who entered the tent.

"The boat is ready to go. Let's get back to the guild." Erza told them and instantly, they all nodded and rushed to leave but were stopped by Erza. "I came to bring you all back; you will face punishment on your return." The three boys gulped and Lucy was confused on why the three boys looked so defeated.

"Let's get this over with." Tempus sighed as he threw on his cloak and grabbed his staff as he slowly trudged out the tent towards the docks, with the others in tow. Erza was surprised on how fast the two had healed. Tempus wore his hood up and had his staff on his back. She could tell the bandages were loosened as a few of the bandages flowed a few inches out of his right sleeve. Natsu had his cloak wrapped around his waist, as he was more accustomed to wearing his traditional garb over the cloak.

'I feel as if I am being lead.' Erza thought to herself as she watched the two boys walk ahead of the rest of the group towards the docks. Erza couldn't help but smile at how much they have grown but also couldn't help but frown at the secrets they were keeping from the guild.

The guild members made it all the way back to Magnolia easily enough and were on their way home when they spotted something in the distance. The guild had great black pillars jutting out from the top. The guild looked as if it was in shambles as pieces of the guild barely stood together due to the pillars. Their normal home, which was beautiful and stood atop Magnolia like a guardian or a castle, looked more like a place nobody, would want to go near.

Tempus and Natsu both started to run towards the guild, catching the guard of Erza and the rest of the group off as they all struggled to keep up. Tempus forced the doors open and found that some of the pillars made it deeper than he remembered, some touching the actual floor of the guild. Tempus put his hand on a pillar and his body glowed a brilliant white color. The pillar shattered like glass, his eyes now portrayed an extreme hate towards an enemy they knew not of.

Natsu walked over and put a hand on Tempus' shoulder, calming him down. Tempus walked over to the entrance of the basement but stopped.

"Natsu, take everybody and go check on our guildmates, I'm going to shatter the remainder of these pillars." Natsu nodded his consent, he knew all too well what Tempus was going through. He motioned the rest to join him as they ran downstairs. As they passed, Erza noticed a single tear roll down Tempus' cheek beneath his hood as he turned away from them and headed towards the nearest pillar.

'Why…? Why do I have to live through all my friends' turmoil once more? How can I fight my enemies when they are the people I am trying to protect?' Tempus cursed himself as he punched his hand into a pillar. He shattered the next one from the inside, his eyes radiating his unhappiness with the situation. He took a few deep breaths and managed to calm himself down as he went around to the pillars.

…

"Natsu!?" Mirajane said as she saw the pink haired mage come down the stairs that lead to the basement. His frowned told her that he obviously knew what was going on. She saw Erza, Lucy and Gray come down the stairs, all looking worse for wear at the sight they were welcomed with.

"What happened!?" Lucy asked Mirajane.

"From what we understand… Phantom Lord, another guild attacked the guild overnight. Luckily, nobody is here at night so nobody got hurt." Mirajane said and added the last part with a relieving smile. "Um… where is Tempus?" She asked Lucy.

"He is upstairs, handling the mess." Lucy told her and Mirajane quickly walked away; she wanted to see if he was using obvious magical power.

"Gramps." Natsu told him and the Master looked up from his mug with a big goofy grin.

"Oh! Hello, Natsu my boy! What can I do for you!?" Makarov asked with a big smile.

"First, you can quit drowning yourself in your sorrows." Natsu stated coldly making Makarov lower his drink. "Second, I'm going to go on a walk; and patrol the streets." He stated to him and Makarov hesitated before shoo-ing him off.

"Master! He's going to eradicate the guild off the planet!" A member yelled across the room as Natsu left.

"No… He's grown. He knows something we don't so I plan to watch to find out what it is. But… Just in case; Lucy, will you please go with him and keep an eye on him. Thanks." He said dryly before returning to his drink.

As Natsu was leaving he grabbed Tempus who was sitting on the roof, after all the pillars were gone. Lucy caught up with them and noticed they both looked extremely unhappy.

"Tempus, what do we do?" Natsu asked him. Tempus looked up at the sky, his eyes scanning the clouds.

"We wait. What else can we do? I'm going to go over to the west side on the town. You two can head east." Natsu nodded and parted ways with Tempus as him and Lucy went towards the East side of town.

"Natsu… are you ok?" Lucy asked him and he nodded angrily as he stomped down towards the east side of town. 'Just because you say you are… doesn't mean you are…' She thought to herself as she silently followed the raging pink mage.

"Lucy, stay close to me. We are going to be watching the streets tonight just in case Phantom tries to pull another move on us." Natsu said through seething teeth as he climbed his way onto a rooftop and sat down. Lucy climbed up onto the roof and was helped up by Natsu, she had never seen him this serious.

"Natsu…" Lucy started to say to him.

"I don't like this. It feels bad. It's hard to explain really. Well, I can't explain it yet, but the time will come I guess." Natsu said before he went silent; staring into the starry night that loomed over the city.

…

Tempus was casual sitting on top of the tallest building he could find in the east sector when his eyes fell upon a girl with familiar light blue hair. She was small and looked as if she was fragile. She wore a pale orange dress and was followed by her two friends. A tall slender man named Jet, and another slender man named Droy. Jet wore a large top hat and a yellowish fur coat with trimmings that matched with the hat. Droy, on the other hand, wore a long sleeved white shirt and a green pair of pants with a square texture design. His hair was pointed up in a unique way and he wore gold bandoliers around his chest.

'I'll watch from here.' Tempus thought to himself as he did not want to expose his position to the enemy. Tempus changed his position into where he rested his hands on his thighs and was sitting on his feet. Tempus watched intently for any sudden movement around Levy but he didn't see such a thing and he was starting to get confused. Levy was on her way home with the things she needed with Droy and Jet but there was no movement.

Tempus watched them make it into their home safely. He waited a few more minutes to see if any of Phantom's members were on this inside but nothing happened. The night was silent and not a single thing happened to Shadow Gear.

"What is going on?" Tempus thought aloud as he stood on top of the tower before slowly jumping his way down to rendezvous with Natsu. He wandered the streets constantly keeping an ear out for any sound that would alert him of an attacker but just like earlier; the whole town was quiet. Tempus eventually made his way to the west side where he saw Natsu and Lucy perched on top of a building. Tempus waved them down and Natsu carried Lucy all the way down the building where he let her go, only once his feet was solid on the ground.

"Did you handle it Tempus?" Natsu asked and Tempus shook his head.

"The night is dead; there are no signs on Phantom stalking any of the guild members on the east side." Tempus told him and he nodded his understand. Levy is unharmed and he sighed a bit from relief but then caught on to what Tempus was telling him.

"There are no members of Phantom Lord about at all?" Natsu asked him in disbelief and Tempus nodded.

"I came to check on you and the West Side." Tempus told him, "To see if there are anything out of the ordinary here." Natsu shook his head.

"I haven't seen dust move, it's been scary quiet." Natsu told him and Tempus looked away for a moment, contemplating about what they should do.

"I'm going to run around the city real quick and see if there is anything out of the ordinary." Tempus told him and he nodded his agreement.

"Then I'm off to bed… Let's go Lucy!" Natsu said with a cheerful tone causing her to break out of her trance of watching the two boys converse with each other.

"What do you mean… Let's go?" Lucy asked skeptically.

"Well, I'm sleeping over there of course!" He said and she gaped at him. Tempus chuckled at her response before walking away and waving behind him.

"What!? No you are not!" Lucy yelled at him and he simply looked confused. "Wait, why!?" She asked him.

"To make sure you are safe of course, we can have Erza too!" Natsu said with a big smile as he went marching down the road pulling Lucy along. Lucy just sighed but softly smiled to herself as she stared at the pink haired mage from the back as he pulled her through the streets of Magnolia. Eventually, through all the pulling, they ended up in front of Lucy's apartment and Natsu literally kicked the door open.

"Hey! Don't destroy my door you idiot!" She yelled at him and he just laughed.

"Yeah, Flamebrain! Don't break her door down." A voice penetrated from the inside of her apartment but they both knew who it was.

"What was that Ice Princess!? I can't hear those beneath me!" Natsu yelled up the stairs as he came up. Gray was already jumping out of his chair, ready for a fight as he threw off his shirt.

"Hey! Both of you, I refuse to sleep in a room with you if you act like this and I will throw the two of you out!" Lucy looked over and saw Erza sitting on her chair with a stack of papers in her hand. Erza was wearing glasses and was scanning all of them intently. Lucy instantly rushed over and snatched the papers from her hand.

"Don't read those! They are not done yet!" Lucy cried out at her and Erza just looked away and pouted. She looked back to Natsu and realized both of the boys were already butting heads. Natsu and Gray were glaring at each other intently, both ready to throw the first punch.

"Ready to be scolded Ice Princess!?" Natsu said as he took a step back and caught his left hand on fire. Gray, too, took a step back and put both his hands together as an icy chill emerged from the center of his hands.

"I hope you are ready to be frozen like an ice cube Flame Brain." Gray said. Lucy, on the other hand, was about to have a heart attack.

"Stop! Don't destroy my home! It costs me enough as it is!" She yelled at them but both barely paid her any attention, still staring each other down.

"Stop or you will face the consequences." Both boys flinched and looked the their side to see Erza standing behind Lucy. "WE are going to put in some rules for you boys, so we are not living in your filth. One, you will bathe. Two, you will bathe. Three, If you do not bathe, you will sleep outside. Four, you will not argue or fight while inside Lucy's home. Are we understood?" Both boys instantly stood up straight and saluted the red haired mage.

"Aye, sir!" They shouted out in unison. Erza, obviously pleased with her work, smiled and sat back in the chair.

"Natsu, where is our last member?" Erza inquired him and he paused for a minute.

"He went to go look around for any signs of Phantom Lord. He should be here sometime soon." Natsu told her and she nodded.

"He'll be able to defend himself if put into a tight situation, I trust him." Erza told him and Natsu just shrugged.

"Go get your baths quickly, if you smell when you get out, the only smell left of you will be the smell of a fresh beating. GO!" Erza commanded them and they both ran to the bathroom but Natsu beat Gray to it and laughed as he slammed the door in his face.

Erza shook her head but couldn't help but laugh at her teammates endeavors. Tempus should be here soon and the team would be complete.

…

"_We are connected and you will be able to access a conversation with me that way." _Tempus thought to himself as he just finished his run around the city and saw nothing suspicious yet again. Tempus made his way to his home and sat down with his legs crossed on the middle rug. He closed his eyes and started to focus his magical powers on the foreign element he felt inside of him.

"I hope this works." Tempus said as his body glowed a faint white before the magic faded. Tempus opened his eyes and the surroundings took his breath away. He was in the middle of a glass domed structure. The architecture style was elegant and precise and had many different engravings throughput the image. Beautiful trees grew inside the building along the outer perimeter and shown beautifully within the lighted room. He looked in front of him and he saw the cloaked woman who claimed to be the Hero.

"You took longer than expected, I was expecting you to immediately do this because, it suits your personality to do that." She chuckled.

"Can I get some answers now?" Tempus asked coldly and she was temporarily taken back but walked over and sat in front of him and held her arms out.

"Well, go on. We have a lot of time; ask what you would like to know." She told him and he stared at her for a moment.

"What do you look like?" He said it more like a statement than a question and she chucked before removing the hood. She had a fair, soft skin and vibrant green eyes. She had long blonde hair and long flat pointed ears. She was an elf.

"An elf?" He sat stunned, it was rare to see them at all but something was different about her as well.

"Sort of." She giggled out. "I am a _High_ _Elf_. Think of it as the first race of elves." She told him and he paused for a moment, his hand was now resting beneath his chin as he was thinking.

"What is the difference between an Elf and a High Elf as you say?" Tempus asked her.

"Well, simply it is our magical substance. High Elves are more geared towards Nature World Magic while the normal Elves are geared towards Holder and Caster Magic. World Magic is a very powerful form of magic that was studied only by the High Elves but the race no longer exists so all the work done by my race has also been extinguished." Tempus was caught off guard by the jovial mage's sudden saddened face at the mention of her now extinct race.

"What happened to them?" Tempus asked her, she hesitated but gave out a soft sigh.

"Let's start over; it is nice to meet you Tempus. My name is Illyia Yurathiel; the crowned princess of the High Elves and I will not tell you my story." She said as she stood up, Tempus was about to protest but she continued talking. "I will show you." She stated simply as the world around them morphed into the same room now bustling with many people. Tempus was shocked, so many elves scurrying around, he had never seen so many.

"This is one thousand years before today, two hundred and twenty years before the start of the time the current human race knows of. This is the capital of the High Elves called Anvasari; this is where I was born." Illyia said, and as if on cue, a man came running past the two of them holding a bunch of papers.

"Princess Illyia has been born! The new princess is alive!" The entirety of the room gave cheers to celebrate the birth of the princess but Illyia did not show a happy face. The room shifted yet again and they were now behind an open door. The light from inside barely pierced the outside corridor. They were now in a stone looking area and voices were heard from inside the room.

"What do you mean she can't use magic!?" A man yelled and the rest of the group was awkwardly quiet.

"W-We believe it to be an affair on the Queen's part; she gave birth to a child that wasn't pure…" A man hesitantly said the fear evident in his voice.

"Heretics!" The first man yelled out. "We need to get rid of the vermin at once." The man said again but an older voice spoke up.

"Do not be so hasty Laerio. There is such a thing as late bloomers in this world, is their not?" Tempus could hear the murmurs of agreement from the other members.

"No offense to your premonitions, Wise Man." The way Laerio said those words, sounded like he was spatting venom. "Her abilities have already been tested and they have said that this girl was born without an ounce of magical power inside her. She is an eyesore for the public and we can't have the girl as the princess of the strongest magical race in existence!" He snapped at him and Tempus also heard more murmurs of agreement than before.

"Let's give it some time, Laerio. If we have the need to kill the little girl off, we must do it discretely. As soon as she is born and announced healthy is not a good idea to be releasing to the public. Give it a few years, maybe she will blossom into something." The man said. Tempus heard the sound of what he thought was a scoff and the slamming of a door as he imagined that the man named Laerio had just left the room. The room shifted yet again.

This time, Tempus and Illyia were standing in the middle of an open bedroom. Illyia turned around from the scene and looked away. As soon as she did that though, a little girl came running into the room screaming for her mother. An older woman stood up and caught the little girl, holding her gently as a man came in holding a knife.

"What is the meaning of this!?" She yelled at him and he took out a large slip and dropped it in front of him.

"The King and Council have ordered you, my Queen and your heretic child to be condemned to death. I was the lucky soul who was chosen to the dirty work." The man said, his eyes cold but enjoying the thought of relishing in their death.

"The only corruption I see is what you are trying to pull." The Queen stated as she put the child behind her. "If you think you can best me in a duel, try your luck." She told him and he smirked as he pulled out a weapon and the woman took a fighting stance. He threw a knife at her and she easily side swiped it but, by the use of magic, a second knife was already past her defenses and she took a direct hit into her left shoulder.

Before the Queen had a chance to react, the man was in front of her and slashed her throat open easily. The Queen fell backward as she held her bleeding throat; the man then approached the daughter.

"Hello, Illyia." He said calmly and grabbed her by the hair. "You just turned eight years old, here is my present to you." He cackled madly as he cleaned off his blade while holding onto the child. Illyia was crying and struggling to break free from her capture's hold. The strength left Illyia's body and she started to weep uncontrollably.

"I hate the elves. I want my mommy back. Where is daddy? You killed mommy! You killed HER!" A sudden burst of white light emerged from Illyia and then the whole seen went black leaving only Tempus and the grown Illyia in a void chamber.

"Y-You're family…" Tempus said out loud and Illyia turned around and nodded towards him.

"My family was murdered by my very race. My race was later eradicated except for me and you are not yet ready to here why. The time will come when you will learn." Illyia told him and he decided not to argue with her about it at this time.

"What is the story of your corruption? Ardria told me she cut you down because you were consumed with evil." Tempus told her and she nodded.

"That is true but misleading!" She chuckled slightly and Tempus couldn't help but smile at the bubbly personality which was more welcoming then the depressing atmosphere they were in just a moment earlier. "I was corrupted, by the _Nine."_ Her tone instantly changed again by the mention of the group. "I have little to no information on them. They are beings created in the Land of the Chosen by Pure Darkness by a man who calls himself _The One_. That is about all I know of them. I lose to Yimir, the third member of the group who possessed my body and tried to enter the Land of the Chosen using my body but was slain along with me."

This surprised Tempus. He did not expect to hear that she was possessed by a member and that was the reasoning of her being _corrupted by evil._ Tempus rubbed his head as he tried to remember all these thoughts while coming up with good questions to ask.

"What did you do to me when you said we are _connected_?" Tempus asked her and she smirked at him. Tempus gulped.

"I have been asleep for a long time, I woke up when you first activated your magical power. I have been living inside the Land of the Chosen. I had to find these Gates to visit the real world so I can communicate with you. After connecting with you, while you were unconscious, I put my magical essence inside of you so you can come speak to me. It shortened my visit to you but it was enough to get you to come visit. So, strictly speaking, you are the only person in the world who can use the High Elves Magic. You can experiment soon, don't worry." She said with a soft smile.

"So, I can use your form of Nature World Magic?" He asked and she nodded but held a finger up.

"The name is misleading; you are actually harnessing the magical essence of nature into powerful spells such as Disperse." She told him, he had no idea what she was talking about but nodded anyway.

"Anything I should know right now?" He asked her and she laughed.

"Of course, this world increases how much time that passes by! You should be popping in when Phantom Lord is attacking with the guild machine." Tempus' mouth fell open. He disappeared from the world for a full day by talking for an hour?

"I need to go now then!" Tempus yelled out as he was about to cancel the magical connection but was halted by Illyia.

"Before you go…" She walked over to Tempus, and placed her left hand on his chest. He felt a ripple of magical power enter inside him and felt much more refreshed.

"What was that?" He asked her and she simply conjured up a mirror and gave it to him. Tempus' usually blonde locks were tinted black at the end, as if they had been charred. His normally blue eyes were now showing neon tints of green and the bottom of his cloak changed to a faded green color while still remaining white everywhere else however the design had changed. The cloak now longer had a trench coat type look but was now worn and looked light with many layers of fabric. The cloak was loose as the sleeves hung about six inches off his arm once he bent them. His face had a few intricate markings around the far sides of his eyes towards his ears that had a neon green aura coursing through them.

"I connected you with the magical inside of me. This is considered a _Nature Mode_ that only the best of the High Elves have been able to use who dedicated their entire life to magical training. Being a Pure Magic user like me, you become naturally gifted in arts of purity such as Nature. As I had stated before, the word Nature is misleading. Let the magic do the thinking and you will see what I mean. Now, shoo, shoo, your friends might want you nearby." Illyia said with a light smile.

"Thank you Illyia." Tempus said and she nodded as he took a step back and instantly vanished from the world of Anvasari and back into Magnolia on Earthland.

"I'm coming guys." Tempus said out loud to himself as he quickly ran out of his home.

…

"Eradicate them!" A man yelled over the communications relay to the rest of Phantom's guild mates as the super beam, Jupiter, just finished charging up. Gray was holding back Natsu, who wanted to go and block the beam but they all knew they would need Natsu for the fight so Erza went running forward and changed into her ultimate defense, Adamantine Armor.

"Take Cover!" Erza yelled to the rest of the guild as she fully re-quipped into the armor and put the shield in front of her, bracing for the impact of Jupiter. All of a sudden a flash came in between the Beam and Erza. He twirled and slammed his staff into the ground next to him and it stuck inside the ground as he put his right hand up in front of the oncoming blast.

"We are one, Natsu!" Tempus yelled back to his comrade who was in shock at seeing such a change in him. The beam traveled at an intense velocity as the magic around Tempus started to grow stronger until it disappeared and the beam hit Tempus' hand directly but stopped before it could hit his body, causing his arm to be bent a few inches instead of being straight out. He squeezed down on the end of the beam with his hand and pushed forward; causing a ripple to occur in the beam and a large crater to form beneath him from the amount of magical energy used.

"**Disperse.**" Tempus voiced out and the beam looked as if it had popped, causing all the individual particles of the beam to fall apart and fade away as if it was never there. Erza was shocked, she was ready to risk her life to protect the guild and Tempus risked his own to protect her, but his magical essence to be able to simply pop it like a bubble amazed her.

"Natsu!" Tempus said and Natsu nodded and ran up to him. He took a stance on top of the staff, prepared to be sent flying. Tempus forced the staff out at an angle sending Natsu towards the robotic Phantom Lord guild. Natsu gathered energy in his mouth as he was airborne.

"**Roar of the Lightning Flame Dragon!**" Natsu yelled out as he was directly above it causing a small crater to form on the center of the structure's head. Tempus grabbed his staff and used Light Manipulation to teleport to the center of the structure and lodge it into the center before teleporting out. Natsu smiled as he saw the staff a few hundred feet beneath him.

"**Acceleration!**" Tempus yelled out and Natsu looked over at the shore to see Tempus had his hand twisted sideways with his upper knuckles tucked in pointing at Natsu. Natsu's body felt heavier and faster all of a sudden and he twisted himself with his flames and lightning as he spiraled down towards the top of the structure.

"**Crimson Lotus: Exploding Lightning Blade!**" Natsu yelled out as he spiraled down towards the structure. He was moving too fast for the flames so they ended up wrapping themselves around him as he slammed down onto the staff causing the head to burst open and the rest of the machine start to crack and slowly fall apart.

"Master Jose! What do we do!?" A man spoke to the leader of Phantom Lord, as he was lost in what just happened.

"I-I didn't know Makarov had children like this…" Jose stated but before he could say anything else he felt two eyes staring him down as if they were looking from inside his soul, causing him to shiver. All of a sudden, Natsu appeared in front of him in a burst of flames and grabbed him by the collar before pulling him towards him and sending a punch at the same time sending Jose out of the collapsing structure and into the water below. Tempus teleported next to Natsu and put a hand on his shoulder.

"What about Gajeel?" He asked him and Natsu waved him off.

"We took care of that while you were gone. I beat him to a pulp when he tried stealing Lucy earlier. Master Makarov is with him right now and the other Elemental Four member Gray captured." Natsu told him and Tempus understood.

"Flood your magical gates Natsu. Bring this down into the sea alright?" Natsu gave him a smirk and thumbs up.

"I can do that, I am good at destruction after all!" He said enthusiastically. Tempus nodded and teleported back to the rest of the guild. Mirajane ran over to Tempus and put his arm over her shoulder. Tempus was worn out and his hair faded back to his normal color and his cloak changed back to his normal cloak. The symbols around his face faded as well.

"That's a new magic, huh?" Tempus joked lightly and Mirajane smiled softly at the blonde she was carrying.

"Thanks Tempus." Tempus looked over and saw Erza. He gave her a big grin.

"No problem! It's what I am here for!" He laughed as Mirajane walked him away so he can go rest as he could barely walk. Erza looked back at the structure and her mouth dropped. The guild looked as if a volcano had erupted through the structure. The structure was melting at places the flames did not directly touch and the whole structure looked like a metal volcano. The parts the fire touched directly was turning into ashes. The magic started to die down and then she saw Natsu teleport into a batch of flames he left to the side of the guild. She looked back at the guild just to see the last of it start to fall into the water.

Makarov came back with Gajeel, the Iron Dragon Slayer and Juvia, the elemental four member that was beaten by Gray. They both looked pretty badly beaten but they were both looking away ashamed from the Fairy Tail guild but Makarov had a beaming smile.

"They would both like to join Fairy Tail for their own intents and purposes!" Makarov said and the entire guild felt like he was too drunk or something so they brushed him off. Makarov, however, took that as an acceptance and gave the two members a mark of the guild and told them to get situated with some of the members. They didn't go near Erza, but even if they would have tried, Erza's mind was too occupied with the two mages that keep blowing far past her expectations.

'Just how strong are these two?' Erza thought as she watched Mirajane carry Tempus away and Natsu lean against the guild. At that moment, she noticed that both boys had a look of pain and loss that she had never seen from them. At that moment, she knew, they were hiding something beyond anything she has ever gone through. A deep, intolerable pain that she will make one share with her or somebody soon.

**I hope you enjoy! If you feel as if I did not do a good enough job explaining something and you did not understand, feel free to comment or send me a pm and I will make sure to add it to the next chapter with a more clear context! Stay happy, my readers!**

**-FTMinorz**


	8. Chapter 8: Tower of Heaven

**Hey guys, sorry for the long update. I have been stressed and frantic due to my upcoming basic training date. I leave tomorrow. I wanted to get this next chapter in before I disappear for a few months. This story is long from over and I'll be back to write it when I return from Basic Training. Until then, I hope you guys enjoy your lives and I'll talk to you all soon.**

**-FTMinorz**

**As always:**

**I do not own Fairy Tail**

"Woo!" The children were lively this day as they were all running around in their swim trunks. Natsu was chasing Lucy with a slug and Erza and Gray were playing a game of volleyball while Juvia watched Gray intently. Happy was playing in the sand and Tempus was standing in the grass observing the forthcomings. Natsu stopped chasing the half-crying Lucy to join Tempus on the grass.

"Jellal." Natsu told him and Tempus nodded. Both of the boys were not looking forward to their repeat at the peak of the Tower of Heaven. They were watching their friends laughing and enjoying their time together. Out of the corner of Tempus' eye, he saw movement and looked to see Natsu wiping his eyes with his forearm; his face contorted in a sense of pain. He felt his pain, he remembered the times when they were laughing and having fun with their guild mates; but now, it felt so out-of-place. Tempus patted his friend's and motioned him to walk with him as they turned away from the beach. The two boys walked towards the path of the inn and once they were out of sight they strayed from the path in secret.

"Natsu," Tempus started as he led them through the trees and branches that were to the west of the inn. Natsu's eyes perked forward as he had no idea what Tempus wanted to talk to him about. "It sucks doesn't it? To see the laughing faces of everyone." Tempus told him and he looked up towards the trees for a moment.

"No, it would suck if they weren't smiling." Tempus looked at him intrigued on what he was saying. "I understand that we went back in time to save everyone Temp; but they are alive now, there is no point dwelling on it. We should enjoy their company as if we never knew of what the future held. We can save them this time so do us all a favor and don't be so gloomy!" Natsu added with a big grin. Tempus knew he was right so he let it go.

"We have other things to talk about though. More important things." Natsu leaned against a tree while Tempus sat down on a nearby rock. The gravity of the situation was now apparent to Natsu as he waited for Tempus to continue speaking. "On Galuna Island, I faced an opponent who called himself Zarr; he said he belonged to a group known as the Figures of Nine. He was much stronger than Guildarts and I got lucky that he fell into my trap." Natsu was listening carefully as this was the first time he had heard the details of Tempus' battle.

"I had thought it must have been a strong opponent to get you so beat up by the end of it. What is it this _Figures of Nine _want?" Natsu asked him and Tempus was quiet for a moment as he was deciding on how to approach his answer.

"From what he told me, they want to kill me. He called me a Child of the Light and said we started a new world balance. I'm guessing that is why Deliora was actually alive… The power differential was increased so dramatically that the magic within The World had increased to level out the sudden increase and the demon could have fed off of it." Tempus told him and Natsu nodded. Natsu had inwardly wandered why the demon was alive in this timeline.

"So, you are saying, that there is a chance that some of our opponents will increase in power during this timeline?" Natsu asked and Tempus nodded.

"For one of two reasons. One… The magic increase in the world has caused creatures to grow more rapidly in strength and two… Us. Our power could have grown so much that rivals and friends alike will try to increase in power to try and combat us. Whatever the cause, we should be more wary of who we run into during our travels, Natsu." Tempus said as he looked towards the sky as Natsu took in all this information.

"I am connected with a past ancestor who calls herself Illyia Yurathiel, as her name suggests, she is of the Elven race. She says she is actually a part of the original elves called _High Elves_ and she was defeated by a man named Yimir of the Nine." This caught Natsu's attention.

"So your friend lost to the Nine? So couldn't she give us information on them?" Tempus simply shook his head as he had the same initial response to hearing this story.

"She told me she doesn't know much on them besides that they were created in the Land of the Chosen by somebody who calls himself _The One_." Tempus told him but continued speaking before he could get any words in. "She says she lives in the Land of the Chosen currently and uses these gates to come visit Earthland which is when she installed that type of magic you saw back at the fight against Phantom Lord. She calls it Nature Magic and from what I understand, it's really powerful."

"From what I could tell, it's changing composition of the molecules around you. So I'm going to guess and say it is quite powerful." Natsu cut in, earning him a dirty glare from Tempus but Natsu simply shrugged it off.

"It feels more than that, everything felt slower around me; it felt as if I was connected to everything in the world. I felt as if I could predict everything as it happened around me, it was an odd sensation." Tempus told him and Natsu looked away like a child.

"I wish I had that cool of a power, I don't even like to use my Black Arts." Natsu told him and Tempus chuckled lightly.

"I have noticed you don't use them very much, why is that?" Tempus asked him.

"The magic feels cold and lifeless. It's the opposite of my Dragon Slayer flames so I prefer to use that over the Arts. If the need arises, I will use the Black Arts but until then, I'm the Fire Dragon Slayer and I will make Igneel proud!" Natsu pumped his fist into the air. Tempus smiled at his friend, he was happy to see that his friend was living life the way he should be. Natsu was right about one thing though, life has given them a second chance; it'd be best if he took advantage of it.

"Let's head back; the group is probably curious on where we went." Tempus said and Natsu nodded and followed Tempus out of the woods. When they approached the clearing towards the beach they noticed both Lucy and Gray were gone and Erza stood alone. She was watching the sunset while wearing a simple black dress.

"Hey Erza." She jumped and turned around to see Tempus and Natsu standing behind her. She was not expecting them to randomly show up behind her but after she thought about it she realized this was the more likely area that they would have reappeared at.

"Where have you two been?" She asked them and both lamely pointed behind them towards the trees. She looked utterly disappointed in their lack of enthusiasm.

"Go get changed, we are going to the casino tonight. Lucy and Gray are probably already there." Erza said and Natsu was gone after he had heard Lucy and Gray in the same sentence. Erza looked confused but Tempus just laughed.

"I'll be wearing this tonight." Tempus said and the tone of his voice obviously stated he had no intention of letting his mind be changed. Erza sighed and gave him a look of bitter disappointment but Tempus simply brushed it off and started to walk away.

"Let's go Erza, we can't have the team waiting for us." Tempus said as he waved his hand behind him. "Just like when we did missions together, we can go as a duo." Tempus added as Erza caught up.

"I actually have something to ask you Tempus." Erza asked him and he nodded his consent, allowing her to continue.

"What did… Zarr… mean by… _in the past life_?" Erza knew she asked the right question as Tempus nearly fell on his face as he tripped over his own feet. Erza's eyes now showed concern for her friend but also, she now knew a bit of what they were hiding. They weren't from this time. "Why didn't you tell anybody?" Erza asked her voice now a bit soft. Tempus huffed out a sigh, he knew of all the people in the guild, Erza was the keenest and would be the hardest to hide it from. All of a sudden she was two rocks pop out of the ground, freshly polished as if it was a rare gem.

"Sit down. I guess we have a lot to talk about now." Tempus said as he sat on one of the stones. Erza slowly sat in front of him and waited for him to start speaking. Her eyes showed no emotion but Tempus knew she was trying to hide her anxiety.

"Can you keep this a secret for now? We do plan to tell the guild soon." He asked her and she hesitated but nodded, believing he had his reasons for hiding this truth for so long. She knew it was wrong to hide stuff from the guild but her own anxiety to know what has been going on with her childhood partner and her pink haired friend.

"Yes, please, go ahead Tempus. I'm listening." Erza told him and he nodded before taking a deep breath.

"I'll start from the beginning, easiest thing to understand. Natsu and I have been reset in time with our previous memories to stop the destruction of the world." Erza looked shocked but Tempus' eyes told her he wasn't joking around with her. He was serious.

"Please, explain." Erza said weakly.

"In the future, we will be attacked by a dragon known as Acnologia. Acnologia… kills… all of you. We are here to prevent that from happening." Tempus said. Erza noticed that the topic had a deep impact on him as she saw his eyes portray the pain of the event. Tempus remembered the burning Tenrou tree and the screams of those lost. The pained faces as people tried to survive but were cut down as if they were mere insects.

"Tempus…" She put a hand on his shoulder but he continued to talk.

"A man sent us back in time so we can save everybody from this fate. We were kept our memories and were taught of our actual abilities those two years we were gone. This is both a blessing and a curse, I feel as if I don't belong here and it's both relieving and painful to see the smiles of everybody in the guild once again." Tempus started to ramble but was stopped by an embrace from Erza, surprising Tempus.

"Calm down Tempus, we are a family. If what you say is true, I will follow you to make sure the same mistake does not happen twice. Tell me when you are ready to tell everybody else. The guild will know the truth soon and it will feel better to get the weight off your shoulders." Tempus nodded and Erza smiled softly to herself. She was right about one thing, the pain the two had carried was so deeply rooted into their bodies and it was influencing their everyday actions.

"Sorry about not telling you Erza." Tempus said as he stood up. "Even my magical power, I'm sorry for keeping a lot of secrets from everybody; soon though, they will be able to know. I'm waiting till after the festival." Erza nodded and noted that the festival that Fairy Tail hosted was coming up soon so she will be looking forward to the ordeal even more now.

"We should catch up to the others, before they get too far ahead of us and do something we will regret." Erza said and Tempus laughed as the two made their way towards the casino. Tempus just imagined Natsu had already burnt the thing down to a crisp; he had no hope for his friend. However, once they arrived Tempus was hit in the back by a strong force of magic knocking him onto the ground. He lay motionless on the floor, pretending to be unconscious as he had known who it was. He heard scuffling and a door slam as he imagined that they brought Erza out of the room to stop her from trying to take care of him.

"You are up and moving sooner than expected, I was hoping to take a quick nap in all honesty." Tempus said. Gray soon walked over to them his arm cycling around his shoulder and Juvia was close behind him followed by Lucy.

"You alright?" Gray asked and they both nodded. "Where's Natsu at?" He noted as the last member of their group wasn't their yet. Tempus' face fell as he pointed towards their right. Suddenly, a large eruption of flames shot out and an angry Natsu stood in the center.

"That bastard! What kind of person shoots people in the mouth!? That could kill somebody!" Natsu yelled and all three looked just as disappointed as Tempus did. "I'm gonna beat up that blockhead!" Natsu yelled as he went running through the walls of the casino towards an unknown location.

"Let's follow him; his nose is better than most savage beasts." Gray said as he took off his shirt subconsciously, ready for the upcoming fight. Tempus nodded and followed the raging Natsu; soon enough they were on a boat and both of the boys looked worse for wear.

"I can't believe they knocked all of us out! We shouldn't have lost." Gray snarled to everybody on the front end of the boat. The back end of the boat was occupied by the two Dragon Slayers hunched over the side. Gray just shook his head at the two, ashamed to call them allies.

"Well, they did beat Erza so they have to be strong wizards." Juvia said, trying to reason with Gray . Gray gave her an annoyed look, causing her to flinch back.

"Erza didn't lose! Don't talk like you know her!" Gray snapped at her and Lucy yelled at him. Tempus looked over his shoulder at them, he noticed the strain on their faces and he looked back at his reflection in the water. He no longer felt ill, he hated to see his friends upset now more than ever.

"We'll get her back, Gray." He stated simply and Gray turned around to see the lurched over form of Tempus lying still. His face couldn't be seen but he could tell that Tempus wasn't reacting to any sort of uncomfortable feeling. Gray shrugged but before he could continue a conversation, Natsu spoke up.

"What's with all this dead fish?" Natsu stated and the other passengers looked out the side of the boat and noticed that the waters were infested with dead fish and pieces of wood. Tempus glowered at the water, there was more here than he remembered last time. It seemed as if Death was slowly swarming them.

"The Tower of Heaven." Natsu said as they all looked up towards a giant structure that they were approaching quickly.

"I'll protect us from visibility." Juvia exclaimed as she put up a bubble of water around them, hiding them from anybody watching their approach. Tempus watched from the side of the boat as he thought about the sheer amount of dead fish.

'I have a bad feeling about this.' He thought to himself.

…

Gray, Tempus, Natsu, Lucy and Juvia had made it to the island and were now face to face with Erza. Gray was leading the charge trying to talk some sense into her while Tempus stood on the other side of the room, avoiding the scarlet haired mage before she questioned why he didn't warn her of Jellal. Erza was glaring daggers at the blonde hair boy as he pretended to be on watch.

"Erza! Let us help." Gray told her but she was adamant and shook her head.

"This isn't your fight. I need to end this once and for all." Erza told him and he was about to protest but Natsu spoke up.

"I don't care. I'll walk all the way up there and beat this guy to a pulp even if it is against your best wishes." He said and Erza looked surprised at his sudden outburst.

"He is causing you pain Erza. And none of us can sit back and let that happen. We are with you." Tempus added from across the room as he moved a curtain out of the way to look out the window. "Besides, I have a plan to make this easier for all of us."

"What is it then?" Erza asked. Gray was surprised that Tempus could so easily talk her out of it but was happy none-the-less.

"Well, let's start from the beginning. The attacks in the casino, none of them were lethal despite what they tried to lead you to believe. Natsu was shot in the mouth but obviously he is more or less unharmed. All of us appear to be unharmed from that attack, so it appears to me that it wasn't meant to take us out." Erza slowly nodded but Tempus continued to speak. "So, from this, we can deduce that we are not the enemies of our attackers." Gray looked flabbergasted, he didn't believe that Tempus was thinking that the people that attacked him were not against them.

"What are you talking about?" Gray blurted out by a new voice pierced the room's silence.

"You have a very sharp and observant mind." They all looked the doorway to see a man standing with his arms crossed. He was a very massive, tall and muscular man with overly large arms compared to his thin legs. He wore a white turban over his hair and a black eye patch. His jaw was covered by a metal plate which protected him from an unseen injury. His upper body was exposed but he wore a large light blue cloth that covered from his left shoulder to his belt and further down. He wore baggy gray pants that made his legs look larger and a single green sleeve on his right arm.

"Simon?" Erza managed to peep out, he took a step forward but Gray stood in between them so he raised his hands in a friendly manner.

"Your friend is spot on." Simon said as he pointed towards Tempus who simply nodded.

"I called for Erza to show up because only she can stop Jellal but, with her friends I believe the chances of us succeeded are much greater. Are you two the ones who destroyed Phantom Lord?" He asked Natsu and Tempus. Natsu nodded but Tempus looked away. "With you two, I believe Jellal's tyrant age will be over. He wasn't always like this…" Simon said and Tempus walked over and put a hand on his shoulder.

"We'll fix everything Simon. I promise you." Tempus said and he nodded.

"Let me gather my friends, they'll understand the situation once I explain it to them." Tempus nodded and shooed him out of the room.

"Allow me to explain the plan." Tempus started. "From my senses, I have been able to gather that there is four extra magical presences that we are not yet aware of. One, I'm assuming, is Jellal, the other three are people I also am assuming to be working for Jellal." Tempus told them. Lucy nodded, surprised at her teammates ability to sense magic so well.

"So, how are we going to approach this?" Gray asked him.

"First, we will split off into groups. I'll be with Erza, Lucy you will be with Juvia and Natsu you'll be with Gray." Both boys were about to protest but one glare from Tempus told them that his decision was final and they shouldn't question it so they both shut their mouths. "Erza and I will rush to the top of the tower, we should only run into one of the trio up at the top because Jellal is a close friend of Erza and will want to see her so her challenge will not be too otherworldly. The rest of the groups will separate to different sectors of the towers so Jellal is forced to separate the trio he is using."

"So you want us to spread the power, win our battles and come join you?" Gray asked and Tempus shook his head.

"I want you to win your battles then get out. I sense a large amount of magical pressure gathering above us and you guys need to get out before it is released." Natsu grunted and looked the other way.

"Fine. You are the leader this time, Tempus." Erza said and then she glared at the other members of her team. "You will all listen and leave once your battles are won, do you understand?" She stated coldly and they all nodded. "Let's go Tempus." Erza stated and Tempus nodded when he stood up he walked over to Natsu and whispered in his ear.

"_Don't back down and make it fast._" Natsu gave him a determined look and nodded before Tempus grinned and walked out of the room with Erza. Gray sighed and stood up as well.

"We'll get the west end of the tower; you guys can get the east. Let's go, Natsu." Gray said as he too moved to leave the room but was stopped by Simon.

"Where did Erza go?" He asked after the scanning the room.

"She left to go confront Jellal." Gray said.

"She did what!?" A newcomer asked and Simon looked shocked from what he had just heard from Gray.

"Quiet down Sho." Simon told him but Sho wasn't listening.

"We can't let her face Jellal!" He yelled as he ran off in the direction of Jellal's throne room. Natsu sighed as he watched Sho yell off before he pushed his way out the door and into the west hallway. He knew that Tempus' plan was going to work; he was going to fight Jellal.

…

"Alright, Tempus… Explain to me the core details of your plan, as I know you know more than you let on." Tempus sighed as he walked towards the top. She watched him from the back, his blonde hair was messy and his cloak was draped down his back, his hand was wrapped around his staff. He looked like a hero in a children's tale.

"To put it simply, I am going to have stop somebody from destroying the council. The council is going to shoot down the beam of Etherion to try and destroy the tower. So I am having Natsu come to your aid and help you take down Jellal." Tempus told her and she looked surprised, as she knew he just told them to not come.

"Are you sure he understands what you want him to do?" Tempus chuckled and nodded.

"Natsu isn't one to back away from a friend in need, you should know this." Tempus told her and she nodded her head in agreement to what he said. Soon enough, the two entered through an opening in a door way and there was a long passage that seemed to have an ancient Japanese appeal to it. There was red arches all the way along the wooden path that led to a big door. However, a girl with pink hair tied up stood next to the door. She wore a long white kimono and held a katana looking sword.

"Hello." She stated to them simply. Her voice carried a great amount of pride, Tempus put his hand out in front of Erza.

"Erza. You move ahead to Jellal. I'll take care of this one." Erza nodded and went to move down the path but the girl at the end bent down towards her blade. She immediately unsheathed it and slashed forward but was surprised to see nothing happen. "Move Erza. Don't hesitate." Tempus said and she nodded and ran past the girl.

"I have to give you some credit for being able to block my blows, blonde mage. My name is Ikaruga, I wield the Mugetsu-Ryu blade. It is only proper to give one's name before a duel." Tempus stared at her for a moment before sighing.

"My name is Tempus." He stated simply without any extra information but took a battle stance. Black lines started to formulate behind his eyes and green aura coursed through them. Ikaruga looked on her opponent with a much more serious expression. This was no normal man she was up against. She slashed her weapon out towards Tempus but was surprised as she felt the magic she released disperse as if was weakly collected and couldn't hold its shape.

Tempus was standing straight with a dangerous look. His eyes portrayed a cold nature that unnerved Ikaruga. His hands were beside his body and his cloak was behind his body, no longer wrapped around him.

"I'll give you a choice now; you can give up and be spared a defeat. Or you can fight and go down when Etherion strikes." He said coldly, she flinched not expecting his confident demeanor.

"You can't f-fool me, you aren't that powerful!" She said valiantly but the edginess in her voice gave away her worries of the situation in front of her, before she could act though Tempus was suddenly less than a meter distance from her and slammed his fist into her stomach. She coughed violently and dropped her weapon onto the floor as she fell onto her knees. "I-Impossible… I-I have never lost to somebody."

"I'm sorry; I do not have the time for this." Tempus told her before he put his palm on her forehead. "**Sleep.**" Her eyes slowly closed and she fell onto her side. Just as she was hitting the floor the door behind him was busted down by flames. Natsu came reeling in unhappy with the situation.

"It was so hard to convince Gray to get on the stupid boat!" Natsu cried out and Tempus laughed. "Can I go up and defeat Jellal yet?" Natsu asked and Tempus shook his head.

"We need Erza to confront her past again; we need to wait till Etherion strikes, which should be in about a minute or so. Let me go over the rest of the plan with you in the meantime." Natsu nodded and sat down on the wooden floor.

"What's the plan, Temps!" He said and Tempus sat down in front of him, the markings on his face still showing clearly.

"You are going to fight Jellal; I'm going to fight Ultear." Natsu gave him a confused look. "In the past timeline, the word was in extra disarray due to Ultear destroying the council, I'm the only with the speed to travel to where she is located and prevent her from doing so. I am currently gathering magical energy from staying in this mode for the soul purpose of being able to make the jump from here to the council." Natsu nodded, he knew Tempus could move through Light but he was doubt his ability to travel the ridiculous distance from the Tower of Heaven to the Council but decided not the question it.

"So you are going to go interrupt the council after Etherion is destroyed and stop Ultear while I am here to fight Jellal?" Tempus nodded to his partner's repeat.

Suddenly a brilliant light filled the rooms and the entire structure rumbled as if it was part of an earthquake. Tempus looked at the light and glowered. Etherion had been fired.

"The time has come Natsu. Go prevent Erza from falling, and I'll stop Ultear." Natsu nodded and ran towards the door but stopped next to Tempus.

"You better not fail, Tempus." Natsu said and ran forward without saying another word. Tempus merely chuckled to himself. His eyes glowered a light gold and the green energy coursing through the black lines in his body started to turn gold as he looked down at his hands.

"_I gave you my version of High Elven Magic. It is time for you to develop your own._" Tempus heard Illyia say in the back of his mind. He stood alone on the wooden floor, the magic starting to build as the wood cracked around him and the water started to form waves traveling in the opposite direction.

"I'm coming for you… _friend_." Tempus said as he looked back up towards the exit, his eyes focused on an unclear image. Suddenly, Tempus vanished and everything started to return to the calm way it was before.

…

Natsu kicked the door open to see Erza inside a Lacrima crystal, and Jellal standing over her smirking. Natsu figured this was going to happen and he ran forward and slammed his fist into Jellal causing the man to spiral back a few feet. Natsu grabbed Erza and pulled her out of the crystal, the shock written all over her face.

"Natsu…" Erza said in shock as he layed her down, his eyes were not visible but she could tell he wasn't very pleased with the situation. He was sitting on his knees after putting her down.

"Natsu! I have heard so much about your tremendous power." Natsu looked over at Jellal. Jellal was a young man with light blue hair and a red tattoo beneath his right eye. He wore a whitish blue collared shirt with a hooded blue coat with drawstrings. He wore simply dark laced boots that were tucked into his boots but the most prominent feature that stood out the most to Natsu was his left eye.

Jellal's left eye was black with a yellow pupil. This was different than the first encounter that Natsu had with the man, surprising him. Natsu didn't say a word to him and slowly stood up.

"Jellal… I will never forgive you for putting Erza through this pain, I will put an end to it right now." Natsu stated and Jellal smirked.

"Show me your power! Dragon Slayer!" He yelled as Natsu rushed him. Natsu caught his fist on fire and slammed a single punch into the blue haired mages face causing him to reel into a Lacrima.

"**Roar of the Lightning Flame Dragon!**" Natsu yelled out as he let loose a burst of flame and lightning towards his opponent, hitting him directly. Erza was shocked at the level of power Natsu was at. The beam of lightning and fire flew further than her eyes could see. She watched as Natsu wiped his mouth and back to Jellal who was lying on his back. Did he already win the battle?

Suddenly a laugh pierced the silent sky and both of two Fairy Tail wizards looked towards Jellal who was standing back up. His coat was in tatters and his body dirty from being thrown about.

"Is that all you have, Natsu!? I can sense the darkness inside of you. I can feel your power that you are withholding from the fight. Is there something you are trying to hide?" He said with a grin and Natsu glared at him.

"**Meteor!**" Jellal yelled out and a black aura surrounded him as his speed was greatly increased. Natsu was surprised to see Jellal move faster than before, and to see the Meteor aura to be black instead of yellow.

'Something's definitely not right here.' He thought to himself as he struggled to dodge Jellal's upcoming attacks. Natsu let out a large burst of flames that stuck to the surfaces of all the walls and his eyes looked as if it held fire.

"**Flicker Fire!**" Natsu yelled out as he vanished completely into fire. Jellal didn't look caught off guard, but simply looked amused as he waited for Natsu to pop out of a specific fire. Soon enough, Natsu popped out of one and went to land another punch on Jellal but was shocked to sudden feel a sharp pain in his side as he was struck by Jellal with a blinding speed and sent spiraling into a support beam on the right side of the tower.

By the time Natsu was recovering he looked up to see seven black magical circles already formed in the sky. Natsu eyes widened as Jellal smirked.

"**Grand Chariot!**" He yelled causing black light to shoot from the seven magic circles causing explosions to hit the floor around Natsu. Jellal landed into the dust and out of sight. Erza was surprised that Jellal could hold his own against Natsu. She knew Natsu had grown but she had no idea Jellal's power had increased this much as well.

The dust cloud cleared and her eyes widened as she saw Jellal holding up a black ball of energy and Natsu was struggling to stand up.

"No! Don't do it Jellal!" She yelled out but it was too late as Jellal threw his arms forward.

"**Altairis!**" The black ball moved at a devastating speed towards Natsu. Erza's legs moved on her own as she ran as fast as she could to get in between them. To save Natsu.

…

Ultear stood in the middle of the council with her arms spread open, her teal ball floating in the air in front of her. She focused on the structure and a cruel smile came to her face as she was proud of her doings. The Council was already starting to show signs of it wearing down. She looked in front of her and her eyes widened, the blonde boy she saw at the Tower of Heaven on the cameras the Council had was reaching towards her and was less than a foot away, she tried to react but his hand grasped her by her skull. She suddenly as if her body had been ripped from herself and put back together just as she felt her body through something.

She struggled to look up and she saw it was raining. She noticed she was lying in front of a tree that was broken in half, which she assumed was from her own body a moment ago. She was in the middle of the forest. She saw the blonde boy leaning against a tree, his body panting heavily.

'D-did he just teleport to the council?' She thought to herself but immediately dismissed the idea, Teleportation usually uses a medium to travel through and would never leave somebody so worn out if a medium was used; however, if a medium is not used, the distance he traveled could not have been covered through mere teleportation.

Tempus trudged over to her injured body before falling onto his hands and knees a few inches from her. She was too injured to counterattack, a simply throw through a tree wouldn't have been enough to knock her unconscious.

'I had to disperse her entire being and put it back together just so I can survive the incident.' Tempus thought to himself as he felt the black lines around his eyes fade away and his magic start to drop. Tempus fell onto his side as he struggled to remain conscious.

"W-What did you do to me?" Ultear asked him and she could hear his breaths getting raspier.

"I… I dispersed your being and then put you back together. Your magic is recovering itself and it won't be able to be used until it is fully recovered." He told her as he rolled onto his back and outstretched his hands as he looked at the rainy clouds.

"W…Why did you… keep me alive?" She asked him and he chuckled lightly.

"Because… it would leave a sour taste in my mouth to kill somebody, no matter whom it is." He said as he thought back to when he had to kill Zarr, of the Nine. "I had to once, it was not a good feeling." Ultear was listening to him as she, too, rolled onto her back. She didn't have the energy and if what he told her was true then she knew she wouldn't have the energy to come close to fighting him as of right now.

"What's your name?" She asked him.

"Tempus." He told her and she mentally jotted it down.

"Are you friends with Natsu?" She asked him and he nodded but realized she couldn't look at him.

"Yes I am. Friends are the reason we live and we will do anything to make sure we protect them. All of them." He said the last part with a different underlying tone but she didn't understand why and let it go.

"Can you explain to me what happened? I don't understand how you made it to the council so quickly." Ultear told him and she heard him chuckle causing her to glare up at the sky.

"All these questions, let's play the question game. You have to answer mine first then you I'll answer your's" He told her and she huffed but agreed anyway. "Who taught you Arc of Time?" He asked her and she nearly choked.

"How did you know what magic I used!?" She yelled out and he chuckled.

"You have to answer my question first." He told her and she looked away before responding vaguely.

"My master taught me." She answered him and he nodded. Suddenly she felt a large amount of pressure coming from his direction. She couldn't see him but could hear him stand up again.

"I'm sorry Ultear. I must return now." He walked over to her and when she saw him clearly she was surprised. His body was damaged but the most damaging part about him was his eyes. They looked as if they had seen more pain that she had ever seen in the entirety of her life. He brought both his hands together and pointed them towards her. She felt a warm energy go around her and the rain stopped hitting her as she lay beneath this light. Tempus gave her a warm smile before he turned around and took a step before vanishing.

She believed she was mistaken but she thought she saw a tear fall from his cheek before he vanished.

…

"Simon!"

The big man fell backwards and into a massive heap onto the ground, Natsu's eyes were wide open in shock. Erza ran to his side as he lay on the ground, death nearly upon him.

"Erza…" Simon said softly.

"I had no idea you were still walking around the tower you pest." Jellal said confidently.

"Simon!" She yelled at him again but he simply smiled her pleas off. Natsu continued to stare with shock at the events unfolding before him. Simon… was dying…. again.

"Do not… worry… Erza… I am happy… to give my life… for you." Simon said through ragged coughs as Erza held his head up.

"Don't talk idiot, save your strength and try to stay with me." She tried to say calmly but the look in her eyes gave away the panic she was starting to go through.

"You were always so kind…" He said quietly.

"Don't die on me…" Erza plead to him but his eyes started to roll back. "Simon!" She yelled again but her eyes showed her shock as his body started to gain weight and his head fell to one side. Tears started to freefall from Erza's face and she started to cry over his body. Her body shook as he hands rested on his chest.

"Simon!" She cried out one last time, her tears seemed to be never ending.

"That's what you call throwing your life away Simon!" Jellal yelled and laughed hysterically. "It doesn't matter, you will all perish!" Jellal added as he puts his hands up again, ready to cast Altairis yet again but was interrupted by a punch sending him into a Lacrima crystal across the tower.

"Shut up!" Jellal looked up to see Natsu's body shaking. White light was being released from the ground as a crunching noise was heard. Jellal looked shocked to see Natsu eating the Lacrima infused Etherion. Suddenly a large burst of energy came from Natsu and Natsu's eyes were glowing a brilliant light blue. "Jellal!" He yelled out causing the blue haired mage to recoil uncontrollably back in fear but Natsu suddenly coughed and fell to the ground.

"Did you seriously think you can gain a power boost by eating Etherion?" Jellal said and almost laughed to himself. "Go ahead and off yourself; it makes my job easier!"

"You idiot!" Erza yelled at him, the worry evident in her tone. "Etherion is not only fire! It's made of all the elements and you house darkness too! Why would eating light be a good thing!?" She yelled at him as his body violently rejected the Etherion but all of a sudden black flames erupted from his body as he slowly stood up.

'H-His body absorbed it!?' Jellal thought in shock.

Natsu's body radiated black flames and scales formed along his body. Wispy black flames emerged from the scales and his eyes were crimson. His teeth grew sharper and he glared at Jellal who was still in shock from the incident. Natsu kicked off his back leg and slammed his knee into Jellal's face who was knocked back in pain but didn't have any time to recover as Natsu grabbed him by the neck and slammed him threw the floors of the Tower.

"I made a promise to Tempus! I made a promise to Simon! I won't let you kill my friends!" He yelled out as he was forcing Jellal through the many layers of the tower. Jellal angrily looked at Natsu.

"You will all die! **Meteor!**" He yelled out again and moved towards the top of the tower but before he could make it all the way Natsu hit him from the side and launched him through the top and into the Lacrima. "I can't lose to you!" Jellal yelled as he created a magical circle.

"Abyss Break!?" Erza yelled out. "Are you crazy!? You'll destroy the tower with that spell!" She said but Jellal merely laughed.

"I can just rebuild another tower! It won't be nearly as long!" Natsu immediately jumped towards him but Jellal smiled. "**Abyss Bre—**"Before he could finish the entire magic circle shattered, surprising him. He looked towards Erza and saw a blonde haired mage standing next to her, his hand raised. He suddenly felt a pair of hands grab him, one wrapped around his neck, the other was on his head. Natsu's thumb was on Jellal's forehead and his four other fingers was on the side of his head.

"_Sleep Jellal Fernandez and Remember who you are.__** Corruption Art: Seal of Uterus.**_" Natsu uttered in a tone that was unfamiliar to himself and those around him. Jellal's eyes closed and he fell down into the ground on the tower. Natsu landed on the ground and looked over and Erza. He saw Tempus and Erza smiling at him and he smiled back but felt his body go light as he slowly lost consciousness and fell towards the ground. Erza ran over to him as she saw him falling and caught him.

"Thank you, Natsu." She mumbled and Tempus tapped her shoulder.

"Let's get out of here, the Etherion is about to lose control and self-destruct the tower." She nodded as she felt the tower starting the fall apart. She picked Natsu up and followed Tempus towards the exit but was stopped by him suddenly.

"The blast radius is too large." Erza said for him and he nodded.

"There is no way for us to escape the tower and escape the blast." Tempus told her and she nodded as she let Natsu down.

"I'll try to fuse with the Etherion, it's our only way." Tempus shook his head and she looked at him confused, she didn't want to argue about this with him but he rose his hand.

"This is a weak form of my own magic so I should have an easier time controlling it than you." Erza paused but nodded slowly.

"Take Natsu and go!" He told her as the ground started to split. She hesitated but picked Natsu up and ran out of the tower but not before looking at her comrade who was starting to enter the Lacrima crystal.

"You know, Tempus, you should learn how to lie better." He muttered to himself as he pushed his way into the Lacrima. "Stupid stuff isn't remotely similar to Pure Magic, it's like the council tried to copy a children's legend and made it themselves, so scrappily put together." He muttered again as he pushed his way into the crystal just as Erza passed out onto the floor of the tower with Natsu lying next to her.

…

Erza opened her eyes and looked around her. She was lying on the beach and next to her was Natsu, his eyes wide opened. She looked shocked to see him awake.

"Hey Erza." He said to her and she smiled softly to herself.

'Did he get me out of the Tower?' She thought. 'You ended my battle of the past nine years Natsu… You're amazing.' She added to her thoughts and smiled but the realization hit her a second afterwards.

"Where's Tempus?" She asked him and he looked away.

"I don't know. I can feel he is alive but besides that… I don't know…" Natsu said and Erza looked shocked but the moment was soon broken as she heard footsteps and looked to her left the see her friends running down the beach to the two lying on the beach.

'Where are you Tempus?'

…

"Ouch." Tempus muttered to himself as he stumbled his way onto the beach. "I feel sick." He continued to walk into the woods to get some shelter but was interrupted by a voice.

"Oh boy, what did you do this time?" He turned to his right to see Illyia sitting on a tree looking quite amused. He could get a better look at her this time, he could see her eyes were blue and her hair was a light sandy color. Her red cloak was behind her and her hood was down. She wore a pale brown undergarment that had the design of leaves.

"I absorbed the entire tower." He stated to her, obviously not as amused as she was. His body was melting the forest around him as the knocked down tree he was standing on just a second ago was destroyed and turning into wax. "Before you lecture me, I know it wasn't pure magic." He told her as he walked out of the mess he just made. She giggled and shook her head before hopping off her tree.

"**Yurathiel Bubble.**" She said as she walked towards causing a shield to form around them. He could feel his body recovering quickly.

"What are the details of this magic?" He asked her and she just put her finger to her lips and laughed softly.

"The Yurathiel Bubble can protect the nature elements from magical elements. I'm going to have you stay here until you recover; you'll recover faster this way as well." She told him and he nodded and sat down on a tree trunk, he was happy he wasn't making it melt anymore.

"Thank you Illyia." He told her and she simply nodded before sitting back on her tree. The silence between them etched some time, his mind obviously wasn't on her so she decided to break the silence.

"Do you have anything you want to ask?" She asked him and he fell off the trunk as he was surprised she had something to say.

"Yes... actually. Explain to me, that worldly power you gave me." Tempus told her and she thought for a moment before nodding.

"It's called _Cuivie_. It's your own personal awakening per say. Since we are connected, I gave you my own. Actually, in High Elven culture, it's considered to be an act of marriage to connect one with a _Cuivie_ because they are so rare." Tempus looked shocked and started waving his hands in front of him causing Illyia to laugh. "Well, each _Cuivie _is unique in their own ways, the symbols changes and the color of the aura can be different too. Have you discovered your color yet?" He nodded.

"My color was gold." She stared at him with amusement before giggling.

"Well… that's interesting to say the least. Gold is the upper class of _Cuivie_. You have one of the more powerful versions of _Cuivie_. Mine is Green, which is level 3, your's is level 1." He nodded his understanding. "Now, _Cuivie_ magic can be different but usually it involves molecular alteration. Gold Molecular Alteration can involve stuff from being able to disperse entire people and slow down time around you. It really is a powerful form of magic. Well, your _Cuivie_ isn't fully awake and you've been using about half of mine to even be able to sustain it. It'll form soon enough though." She told him and he nodded.

"That's all I have to ask." He stated simply and she nodded and layed down on a patch of leaves next to him.

"Well, get some rest. When you wake up, I'll no longer be here and you'll be perfectly healed." He nodded and layed down on the other side of the leaves and slept soundly. Ready to return to the guild before Erza kills him.

…

"Where's Tempus?" Mirajane asked Natsu and the party who had just returned and Natsu answered for them.

"He's on his way back soon, just had a bit of a problem getting here." He said sheepishly. Mirajane glared at him and he quickly walked away before he was further interrogated.

A few hours passed and the doors opened. Tempus walked into the bustling guild in the middle of their daily brawl and sneaked around to the bar.

"Hey Mirajane, can I get the usual?" He said.

"Of course Tempus!" It took her a moment to register the blonde and then she jumped. "Tempus!? Are you alright!?" He laughed and nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just had a little mishap." He told her and she smiled before rushing to get his meal together. Erza came and sat next to him.

"Tempus." Erza started and Tempus jumped, not noticing the red haired mage.

"Yes, Erza?" Tempus asked but before he could do anything he was punched in the stomach, giving off a grunt sound and brought to an embrace.

"Thank you." The entire guild stopped fighting and watched the scene in front of them with a big smile on their faces. The guild was together once again.


End file.
